Player ratings: Nottingham Forest 2-3 Fulham

After a week off, George Rossiter is back to review the performances after a thrilling victory at the City Ground.

In front of an extremely loud away end, the Whites didn’t let a week off curtail their momentum. A six-minute spell saw three quick-fire Fulham goals, sending the Fulham faithful into absolute delirium.

Bernd Leno

There was little Leno could do for the Forest goals, with both being reactionary finishes from close range. Overall, Leno made a number of brilliant catches in dangerous situations and commanded his six-yard box well. 7/10

Kenny Tete

In the modern game, it’s so refreshing to see a full-back who is brilliant in one-on-one situations and offers so much going forward too, rather than doing one or the other. Tete was brilliant in protecting his box, including a phenomenal block from a Renan Lodi effort, and set up the Joao Palhinha goal at the other end. 8/10

Tosin

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Didn’t look shaky on the ball, near faultless defensively and popped up with a rare but vital goal at the other end. For me, this was the big man’s best performance of the season, made even more impressive playing next to an unknown defensive partner. 8/10

Issa Diop

I think it would have been easy to be concerned over Diop’s inclusion after the disaster that was Crawley away in the League Cup. But no, for a full league debut, the Frenchman was a colossal. He proved his ability on the ball, frequently bringing the ball into midfield in dangerous positions and rarely letting a Forest man past, really impressive. 8.5/10. – Man of the match.m

Tim Ream

The man just gets better and better and better. Even in a position he hasn’t played in since his Bolton days, he has excelled in. Okay, his pace let him down on one occasion against Brennan Johnson, but bar that, brilliant. And for the skill shown in the corner with 95 minutes on the clock, that’ll live long in the memory like Cairney and Johansen at Carrow Road. 8/10

Joao Palhinha

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Oh my word, what a player. I will not apologise for my admiration of our Portuguese superstar in the middle of the park. He’s so good that you just accept the fact he’ll pick up suspensions from time to time. An absolute screamer to put Fulham ahead topped off another brilliant performance. 8/10

Harrison Reed

THIS IS NOT A DRILL, HARRISON REED HAS A FULHAM GOAL. And what a time to do it, by the way. The Ginger Iniesta with a vintage display. Absolutely everywhere, even to the point of being in a rare goal-scoring position. His partnership in the middle with Palhinha is fantastic. 8/10

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Andreas Pereira

Pereira went full Brazilian in the full half, pulling out every trick and flick in the book. While nothing came of them too much, it was a positive display after some previously shaky performances away from home from Andreas. 7/10

Willian

Really positive full debut from the man with many a Brazilian cap to his name. You can see how he has evolved his game to influence the game without the pace he used to have, picking the ball up in any given pocket and distributing forward with his insane ability. There’s still a player there, no doubt. 7.5/10

Bobby De-Cordova Reid

Bobby showed why his versatility is so vital to this team. At one end he helped cover Tim Ream, adapting to a position he hadn’t played in for years. At the other, he took Forest’s defence on with pace and directness. You cannot underestimate the importance of having a Bobby in your squad at this level. 7.5/10

Aleksandar Mitrovic

Somehow, in a five goal thriller, Mitro didn’t have a goal involvement. He still gave a lot to this Fulham side, continuing to show the development of his game, linking play to the wider players on Fulham counter-attacks, while holding the play up after Fulham took a two-goal lead. 7/10

Substitutes

Dan James (70’ for Willian)

Okay maybe in added time it wasn’t worth going for goal alone with Forest exposed, but, my God is the boy quick; he will impact any given game. 6.5/10

Tom Cairney (83’ for Andreas Pereira)

Our skipper offers a lot more than this of course, but if he’s going to consistently the play the role of seeing the games out when we’re ahead, then that’s fine by me, he’s absolutely fantastic at controlling the tempo of a game. 7.5/10

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Carlos Vinicius and Neeskens Kebano (90’ for Bobby De-Cordova Reid and Aleksandar Mitrovic)

Both showed what they can offer in a short cameo, with Vinicius’s scary strength in hold-up play and Kebano’s trickery to keep the ball safe in the corner. 6.5/10 for both