Wood Fires Forest Back to Third as Spurs Suffer Another Home Defeat

Nottingham Forest secured third place in the Premier League with a 2-1 triumph over Tottenham Hotspur in London, extending their unbeaten run on Easter Monday to 17 top-flight matches (W14, D3).

The home supporters had hoped that Spurs’ advancement to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals would inspire a spirited performance. However, it was Forest who asserted themselves in the opening 20 minutes, building a significant lead that could have been even greater.

The opener came when Guglielmo Vicario could only parry a powerful strike from Morgan Gibbs-White. Anthony Elanga’s resulting corner was cleared by Pedro Porro, but the ball fell to Elliot Anderson, who let fly from distance, with a deflection off Rodrigo Bentancur leaving Vicario wrong-footed.

A dream start turned into a fairy tale just 10 minutes in, as Anderson delivered a brilliant pass to Chris Wood, who dexterously poked the ball beyond Vicario.

Though VAR flagged Wood for a marginal offside, Spurs’ reprieve was short-lived as Wood, leaping like a salmon, managed to head in from an Elanga cross, igniting cheers from the away fans.

Spurs attempted to respond, but their efforts were largely ineffective. They came close on two occasions shortly before half-time, with Mathys Tel firing wide and Richarlison’s header going off target, reflecting the contrasting fortunes of both teams in front of goal.

The Spurs backline paid the penalty for their lacklustre first half, with Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero substituted for Ben Davies and Kevin Danso at the break.

Despite the changes, momentum shifted little. Tel remained Spurs’ most lively player, yet Gibbs-White nearly finished the contest just before the hour, running through on goal after a flick-on from Wood but firing wide under pressure.

Facing the possibility of a league double defeat for the first time since 1996/97, Spurs squandered a golden opportunity as Dejan Kulusevski’s glancing header threatened to find the net, only for Harry Toffolo to execute a miraculous mid-air clearance with the ball already over the line.

Forest then opted to sit back in the closing stages, with goalkeeper Sels denying Richarlison twice, including an impressive fingertip save from a downward header.

As the match approached its conclusion, a thrilling finish seemed on the cards when Richarlison finally found the net, rising to head home a long cross from Porro with just four minutes remaining.

Unfortunately for Spurs, it came too late in the day, and despite their late surge, Forest thoroughly deserved their victory.

Three decades on from clinching bronze under Brian Clough’s successor, Frank Clark, Forest’s aspirations of competing among Europe’s elite remain alive and well.

In contrast, Spurs have now suffered a staggering 17 defeats in their past 21 league encounters against teams in the upper half of the table, and they face the likelihood of finishing in the bottom half for the first time since the 2007/08 season.