Nottingham Forest will avoid temptation to make widespread changes and focus their efforts on signing a striker, according to Chris Hughton.

The Reds have endured a disappointing season so far in which the club have found themselves anchored in the bottom half of the Championship table.

While a seven-match unbeaten run of late has given supporters some room for optimism, a 2-1 defeat against Middlesbrough midweek seems to have brought the team back down to earth.

With just over a week left in the January transfer window time is running out if Forest are to make improvements to their squad, and according to Hughton, the recruitment team remain focused on the key frailty in the group.

Asked if his transfer plans have changed, Hughton told Nottinghamshire Live: “Your thoughts can change. It is a very emotional game, and us as managers are very much involved in that.

“One performance where you don’t do so well, then you’re thinking, ‘well, maybe we need that position or that position’, then that changes in the next game or the game after that.

“But we’ve been fairly consistent on our thoughts.

“The area that we need to improve is the ability to score more goals.

“We’ve been fairly consistent in that - but there is always the emotion of good and bad results, and injuries.”

He added: “It will be a busy week. Whether we get anything done business wise, it will be a busy week as regards continually looking at videos and making phone calls.

“But as regards bringing anybody in, that I don’t know. We are working as hard as we can.”

Quiz: Did these 20 things happen to Nottingham Forest in 2020?

The Verdict

The next week or so will be key for Nottingham Forest.

After a torrid start to the season there's a real need for the club to kick on under Chris Hughton - something that there have been clear signs of doing.

However the team needs to move forward and if Hughton can bring in a decent addition or two then it could serve the club very well for the rest of the season.