Tottenham 1 Nottingham Forest 2: Nuno’s men take huge step towards Champions League as Spurs suffer further humiliation
NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO will have dreamt of delivering Champions League football at Tottenham once upon a time.
The Portuguese never came close to it unfortunately because Daniel Levy sacked him after only 17 games in charge back in 2021.
But Nuno took a huge step to qualifying for Europe’s elite club competition at Spurs as his Forest side recorded an easy win back on his old stomping ground.
Early goals from Elliot Anderson and Chris Wood, who also had another ruled out for offside, did the damage to send the Tricky Trees up to third, even though Richarlison got one back late on.
And despite a recent wobble of back-to-back defeats, plus the quality competition they face to finish in the top five, Nuno’s men will fancy themselves now given their favourable run-in.
After Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City – in itself a massive fixture in Forest’s recent history – their last five to complete the term are all very winnable.
Brentford on the beach at home, then away to a Crystal Palace side who could be preparing for a cup final.
A home-banker to relegated Leicester is followed by a trip to a West Ham side desperate to see the end of the campaign.
Then a final-day hosting of Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea, who are in the mix for the Champions League but hardly look invincible.
Indeed, they may look the most likely to miss out.
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In an already a dream season, they could not have hoped for a better crack at it than this.
As for Spurs, where’s that meme of a gutted Ange Postecoglou slumped over on the touchline when you need it.
From the high of Thursday’s win at Eintracht Frankfurt to an 18th league defeat of the season.
Spurs had had one of their best nights in ages with that gritty 1-0 in Germany.
Not only did it put them into the Europa League semi-finals and keep their trophy dream alive.
But it most probably saved Postecoglou from the sack and was convincing evidence that his players are still playing for him.
This, however, was a reminder of why the Aussie was under such pressure in the first place as an abysmal league campaign got worse.
And to old boss Nuno, to rub further salt into the wounds of the Spurs fans who bothered to turn up in a stadium dotted with unoccupied seats all around.
It was not just the result that left home supporters feeling empty but the manner of the performance.
Once again, Spurs were so easy to play through and create chances against.
For a team in such good nick as Forest, breaking down Postecoglou’s brittle backline was easy.
Morgan Gibbs-White fired a warning shot on four minutes which Guglielmo Vicario dived low to his left to push away.
A minute later and Nuno’s side were ahead through a preventable goal, from Spurs’ perspective.
Pedro Porro tried to clear Anthony Elanga’s corner but his header was weak.
It fell perfectly outside the box for Anderson, whose powerful drive deflected off Rodrigo Bentancur and fizzed up past Vicario.
One looked to have become two only five minutes on when Wood converted Anderson’s pinpoint cross but VAR spotted the New Zealander to have been narrowly offside.
Ultra-focused Forest shook off the frustration and on 17 minutes it was definitely 2-0, with Wood bagging his 19th Prem strike of the season.
The powerhouse forward, whose former clubs Burnley and Leeds both won promotion back to the big time on Easter Monday, rose to meet Elanga’s cross and flicked it into an empty net.
Vicario had attempted one of his Superman-esque punch-outs to clear the delivery but got nowhere near it.
The Italian’s effort to keep out the goal summed up Spurs’ display in the opening 20 minutes: misjudged, sluggish, not good enough.
Forest fans were in dreamland though, singing ‘Up the Champions League we go’ as their team threatened to run riot.
Spurs did have chances to get back in it from there. Of course they did, this is Postecoglou’s side after all.
Mathys Tel lashed well wide after Neco Williams had got a clearance all wrong.
Richarlison then somehow headed the wrong side of the post from a few yards, possibly being put off by Pape Matar Sarr being in his eyeline.
After the break, Harry Toffolo’s outstanding volley on the goal-line to hack the ball away was the only thing stopping Dejan Kulusevski’s header from pulling one back.
Then Matz Sels stepped up as he has done so often this season to deny Richarlison’s shot.
Postecoglou finished the game with four forwards as he sent on Dominic Solanke and Forest old-boy Brennan Johnson to join Tel and Richarlison, who was again denied by a stunning Sels save.
But Nuno’s brave Forest withstood the pressure.
The question is, can they do the same and hold on in the race for the Champions League?
This display, back at the place he very briefly called home, will have given their manager renewed belief that they can.
Richarlison did grab a goal back in the 87th minute, powerfully heading home Pedro Porro’s cross.
But it proved only to be a consolation – albeit one that injected some late tension into the clash – as Nuno’s side held on for a precious win in the Champions League race.