Michael Dawson fears that Nottingham Forest could be dragged right back into the relegation battle due to their poor record away from home this season.
The Reds have only won six points on the road this term, the joint-worst in the Premier League alongside West Ham and Leeds United, although their goal difference in away games is much worse; they've only found the next three times while conceding 29 goals. They didn't win an away game until last month when they beat Southampton at St. Mary's on January 4.
In contrast, they have the ninth-best home record in the league with the City Ground crowd driving them to five wins and four draws at the stadium, with just three defeats from their first 12 games at the West Bridgford venue in 2022/23.
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Their excellent home form since the restart in December has seen them pull away from the drop zone, but they were brought right back to Earth at the weekend following a 4-0 defeat to the Hammers at the London Stadium. It was their eighth away loss so far; only Southampton have lost more (9).
Dawson, who made 91 senior appearances for Forest in his career, thinks they won't stay up unless they starting scoring more often on their travels. They are back at home this Sunday when they face a struggling Everton who are resurgent under new manager Sean Dyche in what could be a hugely important game.
"I'm concerned, because there are a lot of teams in the fight for relegation and Forest are one of those," the former defender told Sky Sports. "When your away form is as bad as theirs is, they'll realise that, the home form is good.
"Big one next week against Everton, massive, massive game against a relegation rival. Steve Cooper will know his team has to improve away from home.
"(They have to) score more goals, they've only scored three goals away from home. That isn't good enough, that ain't going to keep you in the Premier League."
Forest felt aggrieved on Saturday when they were denied a first-half penalty with the game scoreless, as Brennan Johnson went down under contact from West Ham defender Ben Johnson inside the box. But Dawson felt that the forward's fall did his case for a spot kick no favours.
"There were a couple of incidents they will probably feel harshly done by," he said. "Brennan Johnson gets the slightest of touches off Ben Johnson in the first half, it would have been a soft penalty. I just thought he went down a bit theatrically that may have swayed the decision, but he did make the slightest of contact. I bet Steve Cooper is thinking 'maybe we could have had one'."
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