Nottingham Forest claimed a crucial Premier League win as they beat Burnley 4-1 at the City Ground on Sunday
Morgan Gibbs-White of Nottingham Forest scores his team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Burnley at City Ground
The job is not yet done but this past week could prove to be the one where Nottingham Forest’s season spun on its axis.
A campaign that was in danger of being one to forget now has the potential to be something special. The Reds’ Premier League survival hopes have received a real shot in the arm and there is a European semi-final to look forward to.
There is a fresh energy and a buzz about the club. There is also a springboard in place for the final few weeks; a platform to be built on as objectives are chased.
Questions were being asked of Forest going into three home games on the trot. Their top-flight status was far from secure, their City Ground struggles this term had hampered them and debate raged over whether they could juggle competing on two fronts.
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Coming out of that run with four points and a Europa League quarter-final triumph over Porto shows what this team are made of. Quality goes a long way in football, but what really makes the difference is character – and no more was that evident than in Sunday’s thumping of Burnley. Below, NottinghamshireLive looks at the big talking points from the Reds’ 4-1 win over the Clarets.
Morgan masterclass
As Morgan Gibbs-White strode around the City Ground pitch with the match ball safely tucked in his arms, Vitor Pereira mimed bowing down to his No.10. The 26-year-old had just bagged his first career hat-trick and become the third player to net a Premier League treble for the Reds.
Gibbs-White is doing everything he can to drag this team to safety. And it is with a significant dollop of irony that his goals in the Garibaldi in recent weeks are pushing Tottenham Hotspur – the club he almost joined last summer – closer to the trapdoor at the same time as saving Forest.
The 2024 summer transfer window wasn’t a great one for the Reds overall, with some of the signings made having struggled to deliver so far. But keeping hold of Gibbs-White and out of the clutches of Spurs looks better business by the week.
The playmaker just needs Thomas Tuchel to take note; the England boss would be daft not to. Gibbs-White is the joint-top English goal scorer in the Premier League this term, with his three on Sunday taking him to 12 for the campaign – the same tally as Brighton and Hove Albion’s Danny Welbeck.
In the space of 15 minutes, he turned the game around against Burnley. He has been on fire since February, with nine of his haul having been scored since then; when it has really mattered, he has stood up to be counted.
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Emotional afternoon
Gibbs-White is not the only standard-setter in the dressing room. The strength of character shown by Elliot Anderson on Sunday was unbelievable.
Pereira had left it up to the midfielder to decide whether to play, having lost his mother earlier in the week. What followed was an immense demonstration of courage that characterised the measure of the man.
His teammates showed they were all behind him as they posed for a picture after completing their warm-ups, with Anderson holding up a shirt bearing the No.8 and ‘mum’. With admirable composure, the 23-year-old then carried a bouquet of flowers to the centre circle prior to kick-off while Neco Williams tenderly placed the aforementioned shirt with them.
Somehow, Anderson kept it together in the minute’s applause that followed and for the full 90 minutes as he put in one heck of a shift. He did his mum and his family proud.
Pereira’s influence
The final scoreline might have looked comfortable, but few saw it coming at half-time. Forest were poor in the opening 45 minutes and barely created a decent chance as they trailed to Zian Flemming’s opener.
Pereira confessed earlier in his career he might have given his team the Portuguese equivalent of the hairdryer treatment in such circumstances. Instead, he headed down the tunnel even before the half-time whistle had blown in order to scribble tactical tweaks on a white-board for the players to take in.
He had been jotting down notes during the first half and knew changes needed to be made. Dilane Bakwa was hooked for Igor Jesus and Pereira set his team the challenge of scoring twice and not conceding again to clinch the three points.
“We had a conversation, trying to help them find the spaces,” Pereira explained. “We just said to them: ‘Even if we are losing 3-0, I believe with you and our supporters we can do it; we are just losing 1-0 and just need to score two goals to win.’
“I went in there before the referee’s whistle because I wanted to go to the board to explain to them we would do this attacking and this defending, and to show the positions of the players. We said to them: ‘This is the moment to fight, the moment to score two goals, don’t concede anything and then we will win the game.’”
The hosts went a couple of goals better than that, with Jesus netting late on. “It is about the players, the team and the supporters – but I think we helped them, like a GPS, to find the way to get home,” Pereira added.
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Crucial win
Nerves had been evident around the stadium and on the pitch during the first half. There was no getting away from the importance of Sunday’s game.
Pereira prefers not to take too much notice of results elsewhere, but Spurs’ 2-2 draw on Saturday had given Forest an opportunity to move five points clear. For a while, it looked as though it was one they were going to squander. But once Gibbs-White had levelled, the result was really only going to go one way.
A great roar erupted when that equaliser went in, and the volume level only increased when it became 2-1. Adding another couple helped the goal difference out, too.
It means the Reds can breathe ever so slightly easier, at least for a while. Tottenham, in 18th, will need a two-result swing to overtake them now.
Nevertheless, there can be no room for complacency in this relegation scrap. Friday’s trip to Sunderland presents Pereira’s side with the chance to throw down the gauntlet before their rivals play next weekend. It will be far from easy but Forest can head north with confidence.
Sunday’s win was huge, rounding off a potentially season-defining week in style. At the end of it, Pereira was ready to treat himself to a glass of something cold.
“Now, I deserve a beer,” he quipped as he signed off from his post-match press conference. He had certainly earned it.
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