Albion boss Steve Coppell takes his injury-hit team to Nottingham Forest tonight aiming for a win to end two months of mental anguish at the foot of the table.

Victory would lift the Seagulls off the bottom for the first time since the home defeat by fellow strugglers Grimsby at the end of September.

They would, in fact, move above both Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke if they take full advantage of the first of two matches in hand over their relegation rivals.

Coppell thinks they can do it, despite the absence of Dean Blackwell and the major doubts over Bobby Zamora and Graham Barrett.

"We can win without doubt," he declared. "In a contest between two you can never say guaranteed one is going to win.

"We have a great chance. We are going there in optimistic mood, although we know it will be hard. We respect the opposition and I hope at the end of 90 minutes they have respect for us.

"We're still propping up the table, we've had a good run and psychologically it would be perfect if we can just get off that bottom spot, but each and every game is a really difficult one for us."

Coppell would settle for a third successive draw on the road, even though that would still leave Albion narrowly adrift of Sheffield Wednesday on goal difference. More importantly, it would maintain the belief which comes with an undefeated sequence.

"We have got to prove to ourselves that we deserve to be in this division and to do that we need a more sustained run," Coppell said.

"Four games without being beaten is good, but after five, six, seven, eight, nine or ten we will feel more comfortable about ourselves and our ability to stay in this division."

Forest, whose own eleven-match unbeaten League trot came to an end at Wolves last Saturday, pose the biggest threat yet to Albion's mini-revival.

They go third if they win and they will have a near-capacity crowd of around 30,000 roaring them on, with admission prices at the City Ground slashed to a fiver.

"I think everyone has got great respect for the job Paul Hart is doing at Forest and the way they are playing," Coppell said. "I speak to other managers and everyone says they have got a little bit of everything."

Coppell watched Saturday's Withdean visitors Reading win 1-0 against his old club Crystal Palace last night.

Read a full match preview of tonight's game at thisisthealbion.co.uk