Nottingham Forest continued their strong start to the season this weekend as they saw off Stoke City on Friday evening.

The Reds were in good form as they scored three goals away from home to make it three Championship wins in a row to jump to the top of the Championship table.

New manager Sabri Lamouchi has made a big impression at the City Ground and he looks to have finally found a formula which means the Reds might well be one of the promotion contenders in the Championship this season.

Forest have struggled in recent seasons to have any sort of impact in and around the top six positions in the second tier, but there is a growing feeling that the club might well be getting back to challenging for promotion.

With that in mind then, we at FLW looked at TWO early signs that Forest is going to be right in contention for the top two this season...

Consistency, finally

If there is one thing which has held Forest back in recent seasons, it has been the ability to put together a consistent run of form in the Championship.

However, under Lamouchi, the Reds have won three big Championship games on the spin, and look like they have finally turned a big corner which is so crucial to being successful in the second tier.

If Lamouchi can ensure this isn't just a one-off, then there is little reason as to why they can't be in with a shout at promotion come May.

New signings looking well

After years of underwhelming additions to the ranks at the City Ground and big money signings not quite paying off, this summer's new signings have settled in nicely.

The likes of Brice Samba in goal have settled the defence, while Albert Adomah and Sammy Ameobi have added speed and goals from wide areas.

Couple those signings with the likes of Tiago Silva and Samba Sow improving week by week, and Forest have enough about them to suggest they can be right up there.