EXCLUSIVE: Steve Cooper is under pressure for quick results at Nottingham Forest after 3-2 home defeat to Brighton with ambitious owner Evangelos Marinakis growing increasingly frustrated

Steve Cooper needs a win as Nottingham Forest manager with the club's ambitious owner Evangelos Marinakis growing increasingly frustrated.

After losing to Brighton at home Saturday - a defeat that leaves Forest just outside the bottom six - sources suggest Cooper's future is up for debate again.

The Forest board have yet to decide on an alternative manager and it is not believed they have made approaches, which suggests Cooper may still have time to turn the tide. Yet it is believed his relationship with Marinakis has grown increasingly strained in recent times. 

He is popular with supporters and despite back-to-back 3-2 defeats in the Premier League, maintains the backing of a large majority, having led the club from the bottom of the Championship to 14th in the top flight in a little more than two years at the helm. 

Forest face Everton at home next and, while Cooper is expected to take his place in the dug-out, he will need a win to keep the wolf from the door amid serious pressure.

Former Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui is known to have admirers at the City Ground but there are concerns that he would not gain the backing of the club's supporters, should they wish to move in that direction. 

The lack of an obvious replacement who would be viewed as an upgrade may also be in Cooper's favour.

It was Cooper, 43, who led Forest into the Premier League and they finished 16th in their first season after a relegation scrap.

Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, who is worth around £3billion, is ambitious to climb the table rather than another potential escape act. He wants progress and Cooper needs to deliver that quickly.

They play Everton, Fulham and Wolves next and Cooper will be hoping he can deliver the results that keeps Marinakis off his back.