Nottingham Forest produced one of their best performances in years to defeat Sunderland 5-0 at the Stadium of Light on Friday night, blowing the relegation battle wide open with a stunning first-half attack that moved them eight points clear of the bottom three.
Trai Hume’s own goal in the 17th minute sparked an impressive first-half frenzy. Chris Wood added a second in the 31st minute, Morgan Gibbs-White made it three in the 34th minute, and Igor Jesus capped an extraordinary first 45 minutes by sliding in a fourth in the 37th minute.
Elliot Anderson, who returned to the team after the death of his mother, completed a perfect night with a composed finish in added time.
Forest are now five points ahead of 17th-placed West Ham with five games left, with Tottenham eight points behind in 18th place.
“The key was to build on what we did in the second half last week,” said Chris Wood, who had struggled to find the net during his return from injury. “We wanted to keep building, improving and showing what we’re capable of. Getting off to a fast start and doing what we did today was fantastic.”
Anderson’s tribute to his mother.
The most emotional moment of the night came when Anderson, who had missed the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final while in mourning, calmly converted in stoppage time to put his name on the scoresheet.
“We’re on a good roll right now. It’s taken us a while, but we fully believe in ourselves,” he said. “I just know my mom would have been very proud of that one, so I’m happy.”
Wood was equally moved by Anderson’s contribution at both stages of this resurgent Forest career.
“He is an extraordinary man. The things he and his family have been through over the past few weeks are truly heartbreaking and it takes a great character and a strong guy to go out and perform like he did last week and today. That goal was a tribute to his mother and Helen is always in our thoughts.”
Gibbs-White seeks England call-up
Captain Morgan Gibbs-White, who now has seven goals in his last seven first division games after last weekend’s hat-trick against Burnley, he was euphoric after the final whistle.
“Especially, I didn’t think we could surpass the other day, but we have done it again. The credit goes to the boys and the confidence and faith we have in the locker room right now heading into the games.
“Most of it comes from the coach, who shows confidence in his players and gives us confidence in training so that we can put in good performances. We have always known that we have that character, it has been a difficult season at the beginning, but now we are settled. We have a good way of playing and we understand each other. The boys put in an incredible performance.”
Gibbs-White also revealed the thinking that led him to pass to Wood for the second goal instead of doing it himself.
“He’s had a tough period, he’s been out for so long. He was a few games behind but hadn’t scored that goal yet, so the first thought in my mind was to pass him the ball. He deserves it, he’s worked so hard to come back ready for the end of the season and help the boys. I had no doubt he’d save it. When he took the touch I thought he was offside. But forward instinct, they know where to be at the right time. As soon as I passed him, I knew he’d score.”
Regarding his own goal, finished after a putback by Anderson, he smiled: “My role in set pieces is to block a couple of people, I’m not the biggest threat in the area but I try to find a little space. Luckily it went to the back post and I shouted at Igor.” [Jesus] Pass it back and it was a perfect header and I just put it in.”
Gibbs-White also addressed the prospect of a World Cup call-up under Thomas Tuchel, keeping his focus deliberately narrow.
“My total focus is to get Forest to safety and see how far we can go in the Europa League. “I can only control what I can control and those are my performances here and then if I focus on that then what will be.”
The forest watches over the Villa
Forest will host Aston Villa next Thursday in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final, before a Premier League trip to Chelsea on May 4. Wood noted the confidence that back-to-back wins had injected at exactly the right time.
“It’s huge. For us it gives us a bit of breathing room and also puts a bit of pressure on the two chasing us. Back-to-back wins do that for you, we’ll look to do it again after playing Villa in the cup, go to Chelsea and hope to get the same result.”
Gibbs-White was equally optimistic about European prospects. “Feeling confident. You can see in the guys’ performances that everyone feels confident. We go into the game wanting to win and perform well. Hopefully we can get the job done. To be able to get to a final and give it to the fans would be amazing.”
