West Brom boss rates Nottingham Forest's promotion chances and hails Sabri Lamouchi

Nottingham Forest news | The two clubs face each other in the Sky Bet Championship this weekend, with both clubs targeting promotion to the Premier League

West Bromwich Albion boss Slaven Bilic has been speaking about Nottingham Forest’s promotion credentials.

The two clubs are due to go head-to-head in the Sky Bet Championship clash at The Hawthorns on Saturday afternoon.

The Reds are currently in fifth place in the league standings, two points adrift of the automatic promotion places.

Albion are top of the table and have a six-point cushion over second-placed Leeds United.

The last meeting between the two sides ended in a 2-1 scoreline in favour of the Baggies at the City Ground on the opening day of the campaign, but Forest have established themselves as promotion contenders since that August afternoon.

Bilic has been speaking about Forest strengths, and feels the Reds have the ability to achieve automatic promotion to the Premier League.

“They are a team among those eight clubs who are really challenging not just for the play-offs but also for automatic promotion,” Bilic told the club’s website.

“They are very solid, they are compact, they are very difficult to break down.

“They defend in numbers really well but at the same time they are top in transitions.

“They have players who can hurt you.

“It’s not a surprise that they are where they are, Sabri Lamouchi has done a very good job this season.”