Nottingham Forest want to capitalise on a tight Premier League table as they head into their final games before the World Cup break.
The Reds sit bottom of the pile with nine points from 13 matches ahead of facing Brentford at the City Ground on Saturday. After taking on the Bees, they have a Carabao Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur and a clash with Crystal Palace to come before the season pauses for six weeks - with all three taking place at the City Ground.
Head coach Steve Cooper’s goal is to ensure Forest are in a better position at the end of that run, or at least not cut adrift from those teams above them. And he is encouraged by how close the standings are.
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The gap to 17th-placed Southampton is three points, while Palace, in 10th, are seven points ahead. Cooper says the Reds are a long way off where they had hoped to be by now, but he is aware there is still much to play for as his side aim to bounce back from last weekend’s humbling at Arsenal.
“I’m glad it is (tight),” the Welshman said of the table. “If we’re talking about ourselves - and I don’t mind saying it every time I speak - we’re nowhere near the points, and results, we’d hope to have at this stage of the season.
“We were never too ambitious, if you like, with where we thought we should be. But it was certainly better than where we are now.
“On that front, I’m glad we’re still within touching distance, because it gives us motivation and challenge to improve on that. But maybe it’s tight for a reason, because maybe there’s a lot of teams who are not too far apart.
“What we’ve got to do is make sure we do better and come out on the right end of those games. We haven’t done so far in a lot of the games. That’s got to improve going forward.”
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