In a remarkable turn of events that echoes Leicester City's historic 2015-16 season, Nottingham Forest finds itself in an unexpected title race, currently sitting third in the Premier League table.
The statistics tell a compelling story: Forest boasts the joint second-best defense in the division and leads in clean sheets. Even more remarkably, they're on the verge of matching a century-old club record of seven consecutive top-flight victories should they defeat Liverpool on Tuesday.
This dramatic transformation comes just months after Forest narrowly escaped relegation, finishing 17th last season amid controversies including a four-point deduction for financial rule breaches.
"We are in this fight for the title because we deserve to be," declares Forest defender Morato, with Liverpool manager Arne Slot acknowledging them as legitimate contenders, stating they are "definitely a team that is in competition with us and with the other teams" at the top.
The parallels with Leicester City's fairy-tale 5,000-1 title victory are striking. Forest currently matches Leicester's 40-point tally after 20 games from their championship season. Forest's tactical setup mirrors Leicester's successful formula, with Chris Wood playing the Jamie Vardy role up front, supported by Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga on the wings.
Former Leicester captain Wes Morgan, who spent a decade at Forest before leading the Foxes to their improbable title, offers insight into the mentality required for such an achievement: "When it's in touching distance, things get a bit twitchy... When you're so close to achieving something no one thought would be possible, there's a lot more emphasis in making sure we do things right."
Despite their impressive form, Opta's prediction model gives Forest a 0% chance of winning the title and just 0.7% chance of finishing second. However, as Leicester proved in 2016, statistics don't always tell the whole story in football's greatest fairy tales.
