Nottingham Forest rounded off a season-defining week with a 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, with goals suddenly flowing, Vitor Pereira clinching his first league win and Forest’s experience in a relegation battle shining through. George Edwards was at the match
As weeks go, Nottingham Forest’s has been half decent.
They entered it with what felt like their season on the line: a Europa League campaign to save and a vital clash with Tottenham Hotspur at the bottom of the Premier League to navigate.
It couldn’t really have gone much better.
Forest arrived in N17 buoyed on by their spectacular penalty shoot-out win over Midtjylland on Thursday, hungry to build on it and round off the week with another memorable day for their supporters.
The Reds’ experience in situations like this shone through. Tottenham treated the game like a cup final, with parades and flares eccentrically welcoming the team bus and a feeling inside the stadium that everything was on the line.
But Forest had been here before. They’d encountered relegation ‘six-pointers’ before. They’d won at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before. They’d beat Spurs three consecutive times previously, by an aggregate score of 6-1.
They rode pressure for periods of the first half, Igor Jesus giving them the lead just before the break, with Morgan Gibbs-White and Taiwo Awoniyi’s second-half strikes securing Forest a 3-0 win for the second time this season against Spurs, moving them two points above their opponents and three above the relegation zone.
Goals, Goals, Goals
Chris Wood’s return to fitness and goal for the under-21s on Friday gave optimism that Forest’s goalscoring issues may be resolved the other side of the international break.
But his pathway straight back into the first team has been slightly derailed thanks to the clinical edge shown by Forest today.
Jesus and Awoniyi both hadn’t netted in the league since they scored in Forest’s 2-0 win against Brentford nearly two months ago. They had only amassed three shots on target between them in that period.
Today, they were clinical, Jesus showed neat movement and anticipation to find the freedom to nod in from a congested penalty area and Awoniyi displayed the instinct of a goalscorer, to get goal side of Kevin Danso to steer home.
And between their strikes, Gibbs-White’s 11th goal of the season signified why Evangelos Marinakis fought so passionately for him to stay at the club when he nearly left to join Spurs this summer.
Whilst their striker’s threats have been patchy, the Englishman’s has been constant, making his position as captain and Forest’s main man set in stone with passionate displays, reacting to his omission from Thomas Tuchel’s England squad of 30 outfield players with character.
All three goals against Spurs displayed directness, of which Forest have been lacking of late, often making a pass too many or overcomplicating things in the final third.
Their first goal came from a spell of two corners that stemmed from Gibbs-White overlapping and lashing the ball across goal, more in hope than with a set target, but the cross was blocked and Forest worked the opening from there.
The second came from Callum Hudson-Odoi taking his man on and driving across goal, and the third from recycling the ball quickly from a corner and Neco Williams’ crossing early to find Awoniyi.
After also setting up Jesus’s opener, Williams picked up two assists, with now Forest scoring in back-to-back games from corners despite coming into the game as the Premier League’s lowest scorers from set plays.
Having replaced Elliot Anderson on corner duty, Williams’ delivery was on the money, crossing with the pace, flight and consistency that Forest have failed to find.
Before Midtjylland, Forest were on a run of just nine goals in 10 games, a third coming in their 3-0 win in Istanbul at Fenerbahce. Now they have scored five in two, look threatening from various routes and have a plethora of attacking options at their disposal.
Pereira’s first Premier League win
Three days, two lots of fist pumps and one defining week that has breathed life into his premiership. Life is pretty good for Vitor Pereira right now.
It may have taken three attempts after Nuno Espirito Santo’s departure, but it seems the Portuguese has got every player under his wing and on his side, as the two performances this week exuded.
A much-changed team dominated Midtjylland for an hour, a very similar one to the side that was cast away and criticised more than once by predecessor Sean Dyche.
Post-match, Pereira ran through almost every one of his starting players with individual praise, the pride and delight in his players output evident.
He reverted to his preferred side for Tottenham, every player showing the same passion that his starters on Thursday presented. They may not have dominated much of it, but they fought and protected their goal and penalty area with their lives, only conceding five shots – one on target – before they went ahead.
It was a performance akin to what Nuno produced on many occasions last season – not necessarily pretty but effective, a system that suits his players and a distinct capability to impact the game with his substitutes. Substitute Awoniyi netted, while his other four changes gave Forest new energy and legs to see the game out with comfort.
With Nuno’s tactical similarity and his Steve Cooper-style fist pumps, Pereira looks just like the man Forest have been missing, has regalvanised the football club and has got everybody back singing from the same hymn sheet.
Time to finish the job they’ve started
Now, with 18 days until they next take to the field, Forest’s break comes at a mysterious time.
It could be argued that the wave of positivity this week has generated is one they would want to ride game after game into – the confidence emitted against Spurs making a decent example of that.
But this week has taken a lot out of everyone. Granted, Forest have gotten what they wanted from it, but the physical toll of putting everything into 210 minutes of football away from home cannot be ignored.
When Forest regroup, it will be a camp of positivity. They have put themselves ahead in the race for survival and progressed into an exciting European quarterfinal with teams that their illustrious history makes them fit into.
They must address their home form, their initial win against Spurs back in December the last time they tasted a league victory at the City Ground. Following the first leg with Porto, they have three back-to-back games on Trentside, against Aston Villa, Porto again and Burnley, that will either continue the ascendancy further or diminish the positive position they are now in.
But the week they’ve had sets that up perfectly and has transformed their season. They now look together, behind each other, behind the manager and with their fans not only behind them, but believing and dreaming once again.
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