Six successive league wins puts Bournemouth ahead of the second-placed Middlesbrough on goal difference only, but Eddie Howe's men are sure to face a tough ask at the Riverside Stadium this weekend.
Both teams leapfrogged previous leaders Watford with midweek wins - Bournemouth triumphed 2-0 at Sheffield Wednesday while Middlesbrough crushed Norwich City 4-0.
Captain Grant Leadbitter scored twice in that Middlesbrough win for Aitor Karanka's men and he is expecting an entertaining affair when Bournemouth come to visit.
"We're on a roll - we want to keep that going but we've got a tough game on Saturday," Leadbitter told the club's official website.
"It would be good to see 20,000 fans there [at the Riverside] on Saturday - the more the merrier.
"But we've got to concentrate on playing better than we did on Tuesday.
"Eddie Howe has got a great team down there. They'll be no mugs and will be coming at us.
"They will attack but so do we. It'll be two good teams fighting for three points on Saturday."
Watford will look to bounce back from a surprise defeat against struggling Birmingham City at Ipswich Town.
A meek 3-1 home loss to Brentford saw Forest drop to 11th - a far cry from the league lead that they held in September.
Forest spent heavily in the close-season and will be thankful their next opponents are also out of form. Norwich City, who go to The City Ground on Saturday, have won just one of their last seven.
Neil Redfearn's Leeds host rock-bottom Blackpool, while Wednesday welcome Yorkshire rivals Rotherham United.
Brentford make the short trip to Millwall buoyed by their big win at Forest and Reading battle Charlton Athletic.
