Remo Freuler admits Everton clash will be Nottingham Forest’s biggest game of season

Forest welcome Sean Dyche's outfit to the City Ground on Sunday knowing victory would put them seven points ahead of their visitors with 13 games of the season remaining and go a long way to securing their Premier League status.

"We cannot hide from this one," the Switzerland international said. "It's a really big one, for both teams.

"We have some players that have played important games. I think up until now it's the most important game of the season.

"They know it's a big game also for them. On the pitch it's going to be a battle. I'm sure that we can make a great game, especially at home for our fans. Now we want to make happy all the people around Forest."

Freuler does have happy memories of playing against Everton in the past as he was at Italian club Atalanta when they wiped the floor with the Toffees in the Europa League in 2017, winning their two group games with an aggregate of 8-1, which included a 5-1 victory at Goodison Park.

The 30-year-old, who swapped Serie A for the Premier League in the summer, said that the emerging Atalanta side taught Everton a lesson.

"It was our first year in the Europa League," he said. "Everton was in a good mood. They had bought some players for £30million or £40m and everyone expected a really good season.

"They come to us and I think they didn't really know much about Atalanta. And we showed them how to play football.

"We knew that we were really good. I think they didn't know that we were that strong.

"We were not surprised. But for us it was also difficult. It was our first year so we also didn't know how good they really were. We just knew we could play good football."