Romelu Lukaku is "giving excellent signals" following a timely return to form, according to Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi.
The Belgium international has scored just four goals for the Nerazzurri since returning on loan from Chelsea last June.
Two of those have come in his last four appearances - including the winner in the first leg of Inter's Champions League last-16 tie with Porto.
The striker is just one goal away from becoming only the fourth player to score 50 times in Serie A and the Premier League, after Gianfranco Zola, Edin Dzeko and Cristiano Ronaldo.
"We know his value, he came from a problematic period, and now he is giving excellent signals," Inzaghi said of Lukaku during his press conference ahead of Inter's clash with Spezia on Friday.
"He trains in the best way every day, he scored an important goal against Porto, and we want him to continue to raise the condition."
Second-placed Inter will be expected to cut the gap to runaway leaders Napoli to 12 points with victory over their 17th-placed opponents, who are just three points clear of the relegation zone.
The Nerazzurri saw a six-match unbeaten run ended with defeat at Bologna, but Inzaghi was pleased with his side's response in their routine 2-0 victory over Lecce.
"We reacted well by having an excellent game against Lecce," he added. "We must continue like this, with this determination, also from tomorrow.
"[It will be] a difficult game, against a team that has a very specific goal for which it is fighting.
"They come from two draws in a row. We will have to interpret the game in the best way, doing simple things."
Maresca calls on goal-happy Chelsea to tighten up versus Forest
Enzo Maresca has been delighted with Chelsea's attacking prowess in the early weeks of his reign but says they have much to improve at the other end ahead of hosting Nottingham Forest.
Maresca has made a strong start to life at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues unbeaten in five Premier League matches (four wins, one draw) since a matchday one defeat to Manchester City.
No team's Premier League games have produced more goals than Chelsea's so far in 2024-25, with Maresca's men scoring 15 times and conceding seven.
Forest's games, meanwhile, have contained the fewest goals of any side in the top flight (11, six for and five against).
Chelsea edged another goalfest on Thursday as they beat Gent 4-2 in the Europa Conference League, leading Maresca to call for defensive improvements.
"I think we are performing very positively, especially in attack, it's going very well so we are happy," Maresca said.
"As I said many times already, for sure there are always things we can do better. We can attack better, we can defend much better.
"But the most important thing we can learn is that we cannot switch off. For their second goal, we saw that the game was already finished.
"If we want to take a step forward, even when you the game is almost finished, you have to continue and not give away another goal, but it was a good performance and result.
Forest, meanwhile, saw their unbeaten start to the campaign halted by Fulham last time out, losing 1-0 in the absence of star midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, who was suspended after being sent off at Brighton one week earlier.
The England international has told BBC Sport he is working on controlling his temperament, saying: "If I'm at 70% or 60% going into a game, I can't play like that.
"I have to be 150% all the time. I always have to be on it and I like the feeling of having control in a game.
"Sometimes when we're having none of the ball I get frustrated, but that's when the control comes in and to understand what the manager wants from this moment."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Chelsea – Cole Palmer
Palmer became the first player in Premier League history to score four times in the first half of a game as Chelsea beat Brighton 4-2 last week.
Since his debut for Chelsea in September last year (a home defeat to Forest), Cole Palmer has been involved in more Premier League goals than any other player (43 – 28 goals, 15 assists).
Nottingham Forest – James Ward-Prowse
Forest may need some dead-ball magic if they are to earn a result, and specialist Ward-Prowse has a fine record against the Blues.
Ward-Prowse has been involved in four goals in his last five Premier League starts against Chelsea (two goals, two assists), netting the winner on his last start at Stamford Bridge with Southampton in April 2023.
MATCH PREDICTION – CHELSEA WIN
Forest won this exact fixture 1-0 last season – only once have they ever won consecutive away league games against Chelsea, doing so on their first two visits to Stamford Bridge in 1907 and 1908.
Indeed, Chelsea have won just one of their four Premier League meetings with Forest since the latter returned to the top-flight in 2022 (two draws, one loss), though it was a 3-2 victory in the teams' last such game in May.
However, since their return to the competition, no team has lost more Premier League away games in London than Forest (10).
They have lost each of their last four in the capital, conceding three or more goals each time, which will give an in-form Blues attack plenty of confidence.
Chelsea have won nine of their last 11 Premier League games (one draw, one defeat), netting at least twice in eight of those nine victories. Indeed, the Blues are the top scorers in the league this season (15) and also have the highest shot conversion rate (20.3%).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Chelsea – 62.3%
Nottingham Forest – 17.8%
Draw – 19.8%
Atlanta United v New York Red Bulls: Valentino questioning mentality after torrid run
Rob Valentino questioned Atlanta United's mentality after their recent drop in form and hopes to find a solution before meeting the New York Red Bulls in MLS.
The Five Stripes are winless in their last four matches, drawing three in a row before falling to a disappointing 2-1 loss to CF Montreal in midweek.
Sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference, they can still mathematically clinch a playoff spot, but they have to win their final two matches and hope other results go their way.
Valentino was not happy with what he saw from his players against Montreal though, questioning their desire.
"We should always be fighting to win the game, and you just can't give up," Valentino said.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat things, but at the end of the day, I also see that it looks like it doesn't really matter [to the players]. It should look different.
"It's about recovering and going again, but there's no easy solve."
Dortmund pair Adeyemi and Duranville sidelined in double injury blow
Borussia Dortmund will be without Karim Adeyemi and Julien Duranville for several weeks after they were injured in Tuesday's 7-1 Champions League victory over Celtic, coach Nuri Sahin has revealed.
The Ruhr valley club earned their biggest-ever European win in midweek, crushing the Scottish champions with Germany international Adeyemi scoring a hat-trick before being taken off with a muscle injury and replaced by 18-year-old Belgium international Duranville.
Duranville later sustained an injury of his own and both players will be absent until late November, missing Saturday's trip to Union Berlin as well as seven further games.
"We will be without Karim and Julien for some time. They are expected to be back after the international break in mid-November," Sahin said at Friday's pre-match press conference.
He added Giovanni Reyna, sidelined since last month, will also delay his comeback after suffering a setback in his recovery.
Dortmund, who are currently fifth in the Bundesliga on 10 points, three behind leaders Bayern, are seeking their first pair of back-to-back league wins under Sahin at Union.
BVB have struggled for consistency so far, suffering a 5-1 defeat at Stuttgart two weeks ago then bouncing back with a 4-2 win over Bochum and cruising past Celtic in Europe.
"When something is supposed to grow together you need time," Sahin said. "Every day in this development is important. I am not looking for excuses.
"I know well how to rank the Celtic game. It is not that we are hugging each other saying 'we are the coolest' because we won 7-1.
"We are expected to deliver such performances every three days and if we win on Saturday then the world may look a bit cooler."
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