Dougie Freedman will look to maintain his 100% record in charge of Nottingham Forest when his side take on bottom-of-the-table Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on Saturday.

Stuart Pearce's successor has quickly turned the club's fortunes around and boasts two wins from two so far in his time at the helm, following a run of just three wins in 23 outings for the team before that.

Hope of a resurgent charge towards the playoff places has not yet completely evaporated for the East Midlands outfit, but they remain closer to the bottom three than they are to the top six and will need to be almost faultless for the rest of the season if they are to close the 12-point gap to Brentford.

Things will get tougher for Freedman too. His fairytale start has been aided by a kind fixture list, with Blackpool this weekend making it three of the bottom four that he has faced in his first trio of matches.

After that comes a meeting with former club Bolton Wanderers before Freedman's side host high-flying Bournemouth, which will perhaps provide the sternest test of their slim playoff credentials.

For now, though, things are beginning to look up for Forest. They have rediscovered their scoring touch with six goals in their last two outings, three of which came in a comfortable victory over Wigan Athletic on Wednesday night.

Britt Assombalonga was back amongst the goals during that match, but the striker is expected to miss the next few weeks having been stretchered off in the second half.

Matty Fryatt and Dexter Blackstock will be competing to replace Assombalonga in the starting lineup, but that could be the only change for Freedman, who has named the same starting XI in both of his games so far.

The absence of Assombalonga will be welcome news for Blackpool, who will be looking to build on an encouraging, if ultimately fruitless, performance in midweek.

The Tangerines held Middlesbrough for the vast majority of the game before eventually falling to a 2-1 defeat, with all of the goals coming in the final 10 minutes and Kike's winner arriving with only two minutes left.

Nevertheless, it was their fourth defeat in their last five outings and the gap to safety is now 10 points - surely an unassailable one with 16 games left for a side that has picked up only 20 points so far this season.

If they are to pull off a miracle escape then their home form is likely to be key, and the Seasiders have not been pushovers in front of their own fans so far this season.

The only teams to have beaten them at Bloomfield Road since September are those that currently occupy the top four positions in the table, while they haven't lost a home game against any team outside the top nine in the current campaign.

Manager Lee Clark has already labelled this match a "must-win" if they are to pull off an "impossible job", and he is expected to turn to youngsters Henry Cameron and Dom Telford in midfield once again.

Gary Madine is also pushing for a start, with Blackpool in desperate need of goals having scored just seven in their last nine league outings.

Blackpool:

Recent form: WLLWLL

Possible starting lineup: Lewis; McMahon, Clarke, O'Dea, Dunne; Perkins, O'Hara, Orlandi, Telford, Cameron; Madine

Nottingham Forest:

Recent form: LWLLWW

Possible starting lineup: Darlow; Lichaj, Hobbs, Collins, Fox; Burke, Gardner, Lansbury, Osborn, Antonio; Fryatt

Sports Mole says: 1-3