Fulham off to best start since 2003 after win at Forest

Fulham have made their best start to a season since 2003 and the rebuild since Joao Palhinha’s club record sale is presenting no problems to Marco Silva. Palhinha’s £47.5 million exit to Bayern Munich could have had a damaging effect but Silva appears to have swiftly found a formula for success without his talismanic defensive midfielder.

Raul Jimenez’s 50th Premier League goal ended Nottingham Forest’s unbeaten league start and this was a streetwise, brutally effective performance from Fulham.

Silva’s post-Palhinha midfield has ensured a fresh start for Sasa Lukic, the Serbian international who was highly impressive in Palhinha’s old No 6 role. Emile Smith Rowe also appears an excellent signing from Arsenal while Joachim Andersen, a summer acquisition from Crystal Palace, was crucial in preventing Forest from finding an equaliser.

Early days, of course, but Fulham are sixth in the table and five games unbeaten.

After that serious head injury at Wolves in November 2020, Jimenez is also in a good moment and has nine goals in his past 10 league starts. Before putting away the penalty, he had taken the ball off designated taker Andreas Pereira with Silva admitting the Mexico international had apologised after the match.

Silva said: “It is not going to happen again. He had to apologise because he knows the rules and how important discipline is in our squad.

“But it’s great to see him back at that level again after that bad incident when he was at Wolves. It was tough for him to come back. In an important moment of his career, when he was struggling for goals, we showed the trust in him, and believed in him.

“We have made a good start to the season and there is a lot of confidence within the group.”

Without the suspended Morgan Gibbs-White, Forest endured an excruciating afternoon. In what feels like a weekly occurrence, they also suffered yet more frustration with officials in front of their biggest crowd for over a decade.

The pivotal moment came early in the second half, with Forest centre-back Murillo adjudged to have pushed Pereira over in the penalty area. There seemed minimal contact, and it was not until referee Josh Smith was advised by VAR John Brooks to review the incident on his TV monitor that he made his decision.

Forest’s agony only increased 13 minutes after Jimenez’s penalty when a VAR review deemed a challenge from Calvin Bassey on substitute Anthony Elanga not worthy of a spot kick.

Nuno Espirito Santo chose his words carefully after his dismissal at Brighton last week but admitted Smith had a poor afternoon. “We just have to hope that for the next one we are not talking about referees,” he said.

“Let’s try to avoid [talking about officials] and give the referees peace. I think they are trying to improve, but today was not the best day.

“He didn’t do a good job, so let’s hope he improves – like we have to do also. We didn’t play a good game so we have to improve.”