Nottingham Forest have largely overachieved and impressed with their start in the Premier League, but is it sustainable and does Nuno Espirito Santo have the ability to take the Reds to greater heights? George Edwards takes stock of the season so far
Progression was the ambition and expectation from both the Nottingham Forest boardroom and the City Ground terraces this season. Small steps towards becoming an established side in the Premier League, with no qualms of points deductions or relegation.
Seven games in, the Reds are certainly ticking those boxes, with just one defeat, an unbeaten away record and historic results that will live on for decades. It was a start that could have been predicted, given the smart summer recruitment and Nuno’s first pre-season, but the scale of the improvement from last year to this has been stark.
Confidence and consistency lie at the heart of Forest’s success this campaign. Confidence from all that no matter where they play, their football has the capability to take points off any side in the country. Consistency in performance, where last season results and displays against Newcastle or Fulham stood out, now have become the norm.
Tenth doesn’t look particularly groundbreaking, but a pleasant sight nonetheless and a height that a generation of supporters are yet to see until now.
Their form is golden right now, but can it last, and what could happen if it does?
Despite the praise, their home form has been disappointing, without a win in seven Premier League home games and with just two home wins in 2024. How times have changed, with Forest so often relying on their City Ground success to prop them up and carry them over the line in recent years.
Nuno’s counter-attacking style probably suits playing away from home; his peak Wolves side finished with the sixth best away record in the 2019/20 season. Yet, Forest have displayed a positive account of themselves in three of their four home games in all competitions, and, bar Fulham, could and possibly should have come away with victories.
Acquiring points on the road is one of the hardest jobs in the Premier League; just look at Forest’s sorry total of eight points and a solitary win in their first season back. Their new approach just seems to work and compliments the players to a tee.
Teams that finish in mid-table seem to have a knack for beating the teams around them, with the occasional result against the big boys. As we know, Forest got the job done against Southampton but followed it up with that historic win at Anfield, which they absolutely deserved, while showing tremendous fight to withstand adversity and claim draws with 10-men at Brighton and Chelsea.
Most teams, especially at home, like to play possession-based football in the modern day. Forest have embraced that, countered that, and really challenged that philosophy, coming out on top more often than not.
That has generated a fireball of momentum and confidence that makes Nottingham Forest an opponent to be feared by every side in the league, and only now are they beginning to notice.
The defeat to Fulham was a huge test. It tested the manager and his belief in his own style, but more importantly, it challenged the resolve and belief of the squad and their ability to not let a poor result hamper their progress. In recent seasons that would have likely happened, just think of the seemingly endless ruts of poor form over the past two years, with the odd five-game flurry of results here or there.
That’s why it feels different this time. Not only do Forest have a foothold in every game, but they convert that into points, and they are showing no signs of stopping.
They look rigid at the back, with Nikola Milenkovic transforming Forest from the second-worst defence outside the bottom three last year to the second-best, bar Liverpool, this term, and Matz Sels increasingly looking like the answer between the sticks.
Chris Wood’s elite level of goalscoring continues with four so far, but Forest have only scored seven in total — their ability to score goals when he’s out of form or unfit remains the overlying question. However, they consistently create chances, decent ones at that, so must rely on other players becoming more clinical.
Morgan Gibbs-White is key to all of this, with the welcome news that his injury against Chelsea isn’t as serious as once thought and that he could be back to face Crystal Palace. He looks to be the only condition that Forest’s success rides on and the only clear difference from Fulham to the rest.
In Nuno they have a manager who knows his way around Premier League football and can handle the pressure of maintaining form when everyone is waiting for the seemingly inevitable drop off. Points on the board are crucial, and the Reds have a huge opportunity to continue their rise with four fixtures they’d be confident in getting points from around the corner.
The gap to the top looks like it only ever gets bigger, so a European push is probably out of reach, and it may sound reactionary to suggest so. But the idea that Europe can even be seriously mentioned proves that there’s concrete reason for hope.
Every year it seems a club emerges. First Brighton, then Newcastle and last year Aston Villa, all achieving finishes well above their weight in recent years. Current form and undoubted quality suggest that that famous old team in red may just be that club come May.
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