Nuno says Forest have ‘belief’ they can maintain surprise European bid | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo says his side believe they can have a special season after enjoying a Boxing Day success over Tottenham.

Anthony Elanga’s first-half goal saw Forest register a fourth successive Premier League win for the first time since 1995 as they strengthened their European ambitions.

They sit third, with a five-point cushion over fifth-placed Newcastle, and are looking a good bet for a surprise Champions League qualification bid, having already amassed more points than the whole of last season.

Nuno says his side have belief but remained typically pragmatic.

“The table doesn’t mean anything, what is significant for us is what we felt today, the City Ground singing going out, this is what is beautiful for us,” he said.

“The belief is here, but the belief doesn’t hide the reality. The reality says we have achieved nothing yet and we have two days to recover and rest to compete against Everton, this is the reality.

“We believe that we can compete as long as everybody understands that every player in the squad is huge for us, especially in this schedule that we have.”

While Forest are dreaming of Europe, Tottenham’s nightmare season took another turn for the worse, with a fifth defeat from eight league matches.

We believe that we can compete as long as everybody understands that every player in the squad is huge for us

Nuno Espirito Santo

It was their first Boxing Day loss since 2003 and left them languishing in the bottom half of the table.

The defeat increased the pressure on embattled boss Ange Postecoglou, whose post-match press conference lasted little more than two minutes.

The Australian, who has a raft of injuries to contend with, said: “We are asking a lot of this group of players, a lot of these guys are playing every three days.

“It’s only logical they are not going to be at their sharpest, but they are trying.

“It’s obviously disappointing to be beaten. It was never going to be a game with too many chances, I thought we had a fair chance where we could have got something out of the game.

“But it was always going to be a tight game here.

“A disappointing goal we conceded, but aside from that the boys worked hard and we tried to generate as many opportunities as we could considering the context of the game and how Forest play. We just couldn’t get over the line.”

Spurs’ injury crisis could have got worse after their only fit centre-back Radu Dragusin came off with a calf problem.

Postecoglou added ahead of Sunday’s match with Wolves: “He was a bit sore. He hurt his ankle and said he couldn’t continue so we’ll have to wait and see.”