Nottingham Forest 1-0 Tottenham: Elanga sends Tricky Trees into 3rd

Nottingham Forest are winners of four straight and the Tricky Trees sit 3rd in the Premier League table after beating Tottenham 1-0 at the City Ground on Thursday.

WATCH — Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham full match replay

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side finished 17th (one place above the relegation zone) in May, now they find themselves 5 points clear in the race for a Champions League place with one game left to play in 2024.

Anthony Elanga scored the game’s only goal (his 3rd in 3 games) as Forest countered quickly against Tottenham, who had 70 percent of possession in both halves but produced nearly identical shot (13-10) and xG numbers (1.28-1.21).

Have some patience, and back the manager

Captain Obvious here: Obviously no one wants to lose 10 of their first 27 games (all competitions) as Tottenham have done this season, but the margins have been incredibly thin, and the luck almost exclusively rotten. Last weekend’s 6-3 defeat to Liverpool was the first time they had been beaten by multiple goals all season and it was clear to see the players they had on hand were nowhere near the Reds’ equals. With a bit of hindsight, one can look back to August and see that Spurs’ squad lacked depth and experience (as we said at the time), and that this could very well be a tough (but perhaps necessary) season. And it has been, but it hasn’t gotten away from Ange Postecoglou and even through all the bad results, there are plenty of positive signs — if you’re willing to see them. By this point, you would expect heads to drop, attitudes to sour and effort to wane, but that hasn’t been the case at all for Postecoglou and his players. If the manager can keep them all onside until the injury crisis subsides in a couple weeks, a number of young players will have gained incredible experience and accelerated their development, which bodes very well for the Postecoglou project going forward. Archie Gray has played every minute of Spurs’ last five games and met the challenge of learning a brand new position at the game’s highest level, out of necessity; Lucas Bergvall was sensational off the bench against Forest and has appeared in 9 straight games himself, again out of necessity. A pair of 18 years old in their first season at the club. Now, perhaps the board will show a bit of urgency in the January transfer window to reach their lofty ambitions.

Player ratings - Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham

What’s next?

• Tottenham vs Wolves — Sunday (10 am ET)
• Everton vs Nottingham Forest — Sunday (10 am ET)

Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham live updates - by Andy Edwards

Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham final score: 1-0

Goalscorers: Anthony Elanga (28')

GOAL! Forest 1-0 Tottenham: Gibbs-White finds Elanga with a brilliant pass on the counter (28')

Tottenham starting lineup

Forster - Spence, Dragusin, Gray, Udogie - Bentancur, Sarr, Kulusevski - Johnson, Son, Solanke

Nottingham Forest starting lineup

Sels - Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams - Yates, Anderson, Gibbs-White - Elanga, Hudson-Odoi, Wood

How to watch Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham live, stream link and start time

Kick off time: 10 am ET Thursday (December 26)

Venue: City Ground — Nottingham

TV Channel: Peacock

Streaming: Watch live on Peacock

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side sits 4th in the table at Christmas, but that means the job is only (nearly) halfway done, and the next small step is to still be there on New Year’s Day. The knock on the Tricky Trees early in the season was that they they didn’t score enough goals and it was only Chris Wood carrying them (8 goals in 10 appearances out of the gate), which couldn’t last an entire season. Now, they’re winners of three straight games with 7 goals scored, and only 1 by Wood. Anthony Elanga has scored in back-to-back games, including the stoppage-time winner against fellow top-4 hopefuls Aston Villa, and Morgan Gibbs-White has chipped in with a goal and an assist each as well.

On one hand, Forest host a Tottenham side that was beaten 6-3 by Liverpool (at home) on Sunday and most sides suffer a serious loss of confidence after such a result. On the other hand, Spurs has suffered a number of significant setbacks the last 18 months and they almost always bounce back with a resounding performance that shows the best of what could be under Ange Postecoglou. Only to be followed by another violent swing toward the negative, and on and on again, my friend. And that’s where they are right now after losing 4-3, winning 5-0 and losing 6-3 in successive games.

Nottingham Forest team news, focus

OUT: Danilo (ankle), Ibrahim Sangare (undisclosed)

Tottenham team news, focus

OUT: Micky van de Ven (hamstring), Cristian Romero (quad), Guglielmo Vicario (fractured ankle - MORE), Richarlison (thigh), Wilson Odobert (thigh), Ben Davies (thigh)

Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham prediction

If there is one major weakness for Forest, it is that their defenders don’t hold up too well against a press, and while many are calling for Postecoglou to temper his overly aggressive ways, he would be wise to press forward in this one. Nottingham Forest 1-2 Tottenham.