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Louise Taylor<\/p>\n
V\u00edtor Pereira had promised Nottingham Forest<\/a> would approach this assignment with a \u201cChampions League mentality\u201d and his players did not disappoint him.<\/p>\n A fabulous attacking performance not merely succeeded in ruining Sunderland\u2019s lingering European ambitions but also lifted 16th-placed Forest to 39 points. That is within touching distance of safety and given Pereira\u2019s team are now six points clear of West Ham and eight in front of Tottenham, the struggle to avoid the final remaining relegation place is surely between the two London clubs now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Morgan Gibbs-White talks to Sky Sports<\/p>\n double quotation markI didn\u2019t think we could top the other day [against Burnley], but we did. It shows the character and confidence we have right now going into games. Most of it comes from the gaffer.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a difficult season but we\u2019re settled now and we\u2019ve got a good way of playing.<\/p>\n [On setting up Chris Wood\u2019s goal] He\u2019s had a tough time with injury, and then a few games back without getting his first goal, so the first thought in my mind was to give it to him. I had no doubt he\u2019d tuck it away. He deserves it; he\u2019s worked so hard to come back and help the boys.<\/p>\n [On his World Cup chances] My full focus is on getting Forest safe and seeing how far we can go in the Europa League. I can only control my performances here. Whatever will be, will be.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve put ourselves in a good position [to stay up] but we\u2019ve got a tough run of games so we have to remain focussed.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.17 EDT<\/p>\n Forest reaction<\/p>\n Elliot Anderson<\/p>\n double quotation markWe\u2019re on a good run at the minute. It took a while but we fully believe in ourselves, the manager is right behind us and we\u2019re enjoying it.<\/p>\n [On his goal] I was really happy to score here, and I know my mum (who died earlier this month) would have been proud as well, so I\u2019m happy.<\/p>\n Chris Wood<\/p>\n double quotation markIt was just building on what we did in the second half last week. We wanted to start fast and to did what we did was fantastic.<\/p>\n [On Anderson] He\u2019s an extraordinary man. The stuff he and has family have gone through in the last couple of weeks is truly heartbreaking. That goal was a tribute to his mum, definitely, and Helen\u2019s always in our thoughts.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Full time: Sunderland 0-5 Nottm Forest<\/p>\n And then there were two. The relegation battle, surely, is between West Ham and Tottenham now. Nottingham Forest<\/a> have roared to the brink of safety by scoring nine goals in the last game and a half. They made a mockery of what looked a very tough fixture by scoring four goals in 21 delirious first-half minutes. And now they can really enjoy the Europa League semi-final against Aston Villa.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>GOAL! Sunderland 0-5 Nottm Forest (Anderson 90+5)<\/p>\n The perfect finish for Forest. Elliot Anderson, once of Newcastle and now one of the best midfield players in the entire country, has scored Forest\u2019s fifth goal. Dominguez and Awoniyi played their part in a nice move before Anderson swept a first-time shot past Roefs from 15 yards.<\/p>\n Elliot Anderson makes it five for Forest. What a night for the Tricky Trees! Photograph: Lee Smith\/Action Images\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.58 EDT<\/p>\n 90 min Seven minutes of added time, much of it for the VAR check that led to Ballard\u2019s goal being disallowed.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 89 min Brobbey goes down after a handsy challenge from the last man Milenkovic. The referee isn\u2019t interested, nor are VAR. There wasn\u2019t a great deal of contact.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 88 min: Forest substitution Taiwo Awoniyi replaces Chris Wood, whose expertly taken goal put Forest 2-0 up in the first half.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>87 min: Fine save by Sels!<\/p>\n Milenkovic\u2019s clearance goes as far as Le Fee, 25 yards from goal. He chests the ball down and cuts across a ferocious shot that is pawed over superbly by Sels as he flies to his right. That\u2019s easily the best save of the night.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 85 min Isidor, 20 yards out, hits a smart short on the turn that is held to his right by Sels. Decent save.<\/p>\n The second half has been a non-event, no great surprise given the scoreline.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 81 min Xhaka waves a fine pass over the top to Isidor, whose cutback is cleared at the near post by Morato.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 79 min I\u2019m not sure whether this is relevant to Forest anymore, but West Ham and Spurs are both in action at 3pm tomorrow.<\/p>\n West Ham v Everton<\/p>\n Wolves v Spurs<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 76 min Alderete sprays a half-volley over the bar from distance. And why not?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 76 min Yates pushes Mukiele over and is booked. That\u2019s the seventh yellow card of the game, all in the last 25 minutes.<\/p>\n Dan Ballard and Ryan Yates have a frank exchange of views. Photograph: Richard Sellers\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.46 EDT<\/p>\n 74 min Xhaka shoots wide from distance, turns round and gives the referee a mouthful about something or other. He\u2019s booked.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 72 min Forest haven\u2019t really bothered to attack in the second half. They\u2019ve had no shots and one touch in the Sunderland<\/a> box; given the scoreline, that\u2019s more than enough.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 69 min Forest continue to collect yellow cards. This time it\u2019s Williams, who crumps Reinildo on the foot after being beaten to a 50\/50 ball.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 67 min: Double substitution for Forest Ryan Yates and Luca Netz replace Igor Jesus and Omari Hutchinson.<\/p>\n Forest play Aston Villa at the City Ground next Thursday in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final, so this is a decent opportunity to rest players.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 66 min That VAR check took almost five minutes; Sunderland<\/a> will hope they can regain the momentum they had before the goal that wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 65 min: Sunderland<\/a> substitution Wilson Isidor comes on for Habib Diarra.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Disallowed goal! Sunderland 0-4 Nottm Forest<\/p>\n 65 min Mukiele slipped after keeping that Xhaka free-kick alive and then accidentally tripped Sels, who might otherwise have got to the ball before Ballard.<\/p>\n 84 years later, we have a decision. No goal. Photograph: George Wood\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.29 EDT<\/p>\n 62 min The offside has been cleared but now there\u2019s another VAR check for a possible foul by Mukiele on Sels. I think this will go against Sunderland<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Xhaka\u2019s free-kick was lobbed across the six-yard box by Mukiele \u2013 I\u2019m not sure whether he was going for goal or not \u2013 and headed in by Ballard. There\u2019a VAR check for offside against Mukiele but I think the goal will stand.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>GOAL! Sunderland 1-4 Nottm Forest (Ballard 61)<\/p>\n A deserved goal for Sunderland<\/a>. They and their fans have been brilliant since half-time, almost absurdly so given the scoreline.<\/p>\n Dan Ballard has the ball in the back of the Forest net. Photograph: Scott Heppell\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.28 EDT<\/p>\n 60 min Now Igor Jesus is booked for lunging Reinildo.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 58 min The home crowd, who were already making quite a racket, go up a level when the former Newcastle midfielder Anderson is booked for a foul.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 57 min Xhaka fires a fine pass into Alderete, whose shot on the turn is saved easily by Sels.<\/p>\n It can\u2019t be much fun resuming a match when you\u2019re 4-0 down at home, but Sunderland<\/a> are playing with admirable intent.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 52 min Hutchinson gets to the byline and somehow digs out a cross that is volleyed back across goal by Anderson. The ball hits Hume and goes behind for\u2026 a goalkick. Hutchinson\u2019s cross was adjudged to have gone out of play before swinging back in.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 51 min Dominguez is booked for a tactical foul on Diarra, who is also booked for waving an imaginary card.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 50 min: Forest substitution Morato replaces Jair Cunha, who shakes his head repeatedly as he is walked off the field.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 48 min Jair Cunha may need to come off. He fell badly on his shoulder after a challenge with Brobbey; Morato is warming up.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 46 min The second half gets under way. Both teams have made a substitution.<\/p>\n Sunderland Reinildo for Chris Rigg.<\/p>\n Nottm Forest Nicolas Dominguez for Ibrahim Sangare.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n There were boos at the half-time whistle, and it looks like Nordi Mukiele had a full and frank exchange of views with some of the home fans.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Half-time reading<\/p>\n Zadie Smith once wrote that \u201cthe square mile around Arsenal\u2019s stadium could be a suitable surrogate for the whole wide world\u201d. Perhaps you only really glimpse this on a match day, when the jerk chicken grills and paella pans fire up and belch delicious smoke across the rows of terraced houses, when the locals in weathered replica shirts brush shoulders with tourists bearing selfie sticks, when a small group of dedicated volunteers at a kiosk by the Ken Friar Bridge accepts non-perishable donations for the Islington food bank.<\/p>\n And you shall scoff, and you shall sneer, because there is a north London of the popular imagination, and Islington in particular, which has become a surrogate for something else entirely. A slur, an insult, a byword for privilege and entitlement and metropolitan effeteness, the place of Blair and Corbyn and Starmer and a shrink on every street corner. North London is elite, north London is out of touch, north London looks down on the rest of you while eating plates of \u00a316 pasta.<\/p>\n In this telling the idea of Arsenal surrendering a nine-point lead in the Premier League title race feels richly poetic: just and right and perhaps even moral. The neutrals have swung firmly behind Manchester City, who assumed the lead with a 1-0 win over Burnley<\/a> on Wednesday night. After all, Pep Guardiola\u2019s team play fair, play football in the way it is supposed to be played, brook no underlying ethical or geopolitical objections.<\/p>\n Manchester, as we know, is a city entirely devoid of liberal sensibilities or progressive sentiment. Every title race needs a hero and a heel, and while these two clubs may be inseparable in terms of points or goal difference, while many have no strong feelings about who should win, there appears to be a tightening consensus over who should lose.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.50 EDT<\/p>\n Half time: Sunderland 0-4 Nottm Forest<\/p>\n At half-time last Sunday, Forest were 1-0 down at home to Burnley and in a spot of bother. Since then they\u2019ve scored eight goals without reply \u2013 four at the City Ground last Sunday, four during a crazy first half at the Stadium of Light.<\/p>\n An unfortunate own goal from Trai Hume was followed by accomplished finishes from Chris Wood, Morgan Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus. When it starts to make sense, I\u2019ll let you know.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 44 min This will make it 12 points in the last six league games for Forest, who are surely\/almost certainly staying up.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 43 min It\u2019s still 4-0, and it\u2019s still mildly bonkers.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 39 min \u201cIt does feel like Forest are not so much inching away from relegation as they\u2019re strapped to a rocket towards safety,\u201d writes K\u00e1ri Tulinius. \u201cIn another game tonight, Stade Brestois lead RC Lens 3-0 at half time, surely ending the latter\u2019s unlikely title tilt. This is the part of the season where nearly stories sputter to a halt.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, thanks a lot for bringing up 1991-92 again. It\u2019s too soon!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.43 EDT<\/p>\n Forest have now scored eight goals in their last 75 minutes of football. A free-kick from the right was cleared as far as Aina on the edge of the D. His snapshot hit a defender and looped across goal to Igor Jesus, who cushioned a terrific volley into the net.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>GOAL! Sunderland 0-4 Nottm Forest (Igor Jesus 37)<\/p>\n What the actual Forest?!<\/p>\n What is happening?!? Photograph: Owen Humphreys\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.43 EDT<\/p>\n 36 min The relegation battle now looks like a two-horse race between West Ham and Spurs.<\/p>\n![\"Jonathan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Jonathan_Liew.png\")
Jonathan Liew<\/p>\n