Nottingham Forest made a significant leap towards Premier League survival with a remarkable 5-0 victory against Sunderland on Friday.
Just days after a 4-1 triumph over Burnley, Forest is now eight points clear of the relegation zone, delivering a jolt to Tottenham Hotspur fans, who find their team in the relegation zone, trailing West Ham by two points.
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With Burnley and Wolves already relegated, either Spurs or West Ham are the likely candidates to join them.
“This gives us some breathing room and puts pressure on the teams below us,” said Forest’s New Zealand striker Chris Wood. “Winning back-to-back matches does that for you.”
“We built on our second-half performance from last week, which was our aim. We want to continue improving and showcase our capabilities. We started strong, and today’s performance was fantastic.”
Forest head coach Vitor Pereira emphasized that the team cannot afford to relax and still needs more points for safety, yet he was elated with Friday’s display.
“It was incredible, absolutely incredible,” he expressed. “I instructed my team to play at a Champions League level since the Premier League is our Champions League.”
“To win in this stadium against Sunderland, who sit 10 points above us, meant we had to bring our best performance. In my view, the first half was tactically and mentally outstanding, creating numerous opportunities from set-pieces, scoring goals, and conceding none.”
“Ultimately, it was about maintaining a compact defense, ensuring we finished the match with an additional goal. We scored, kept a clean sheet, and that is crucial for us at this moment.”
Sunderland, known for having the best home defensive record behind Manchester City and Arsenal, faltered defensively in a dismal first half.
Forest appeared quicker and more aggressive from the start, taking the lead in the 16th minute when Igor Jesus’ header deflected off Trai Hume following a well-executed short corner.
Things went from bad to worse for Sunderland as goalkeeper Robin Roefs gifted Forest a second goal with a careless pass to Morgan Gibbs-White, who set up Chris Wood for his first league goal since the season’s opening match after recovering from injury.
Gibbs-White scored the third goal just three minutes later with a low shot following Jesus’ expertly cushioned header.
Jesus added Forest’s fourth goal shortly after as Sunderland crumbled under the mounting pressure.
In the second half, Sunderland’s Dan Ballard had a goal disallowed after a VAR review. To cap off a dismal evening, Elliot Anderson sealed the deal with a fifth goal in stoppage time, marking Sunderland’s heaviest ever defeat at the Stadium of Light.
“It’s hard to put into words right after the game,” remarked Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka. “All I can say is that we’re sorry to our fans. The goals we conceded were too simple. Three came from set-pieces, and the coach just mentioned that a 1% drop in maximum effort leads to punishment. We definitely felt punished at home today.”
Report contributed by The Associated Press and PA.