Paul Merson has warned Nottingham Forest to sack Steve Cooper "at your peril" amid the club's Premier League struggles.
The Reds are hovering perilously above the relegation zone at the time of writing, and face a battle to retain their top flight status in the closing games of the season.
Speaking ahead of the game against Aston Villa on Saturday, Merson dismissed Forest's hopes of picking up a result, but was full of praise for head coach Steve Cooper and the job he has done on Trentside.
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"I don't care if you've got Pep Guardiola in charge, I just don't see them getting results there," Merson said of Forest on Sky Sports.
"I couldn't have picked a harder game today. Honestly, if you're not going to play one of the big six, Villa are the bang in-form team. They score every week, score in every game they play. I can't see anything but an Aston Villa win today.
"(Forest) are up against it. I'm a big fan of Steve Cooper. I think if you get rid of him, who are you going to bring in? Leicester have found that.
"You look what he's done at Forest to get them promoted. Let's be honest, they should be playing in the Championship this season. They came up far too soon, in my opinion.
"They were in the bottom two, he gets them into the promised land, they go and buy... the only player they didn't buy was me, I think. All of a sudden, he's got 30-40 players. It's took him a bit of time to get used to it.
"I'm a massive fan of his. Get rid of him at your peril. If they do go down, he's proven before he's given other teams in the league a head start and still got them up."
Do you agree with Merson? Let us know in the comments.
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