Nottingham Forest proving doubters wrong in Premier League
Before the kick off of the 2024/25 Premier League season, Nottingham was an underdog that many only expected to fight to avoid relegation.
This was based on the fact that the previous season, the club secured their Premier League status on the final day of the season, following a 2–1 victory away to Burnley.
They had finished the season with 32 points, breaking the previous record for the lowest points tally of any surviving Premier League team set by West Bromwich Albion in the 2004–05 season, with 34.
Fast forward, with 22 games already played, the Forest comfortably sits in the third position on 41 points, three below second placed Arsenal Football club and with a game in hand.
On 41 points, Forest are six points clear of defending champions Manchester City who are eighth and 15 clear of record Premier League champions, Manchester United who are 13th.
Having conceded only 20 goals, Forest are at the same level as table leaders Liverpool but better than second placed Arsenal, fourth and fifth placed Newcastle and Chelsea who have each shipped in 26 goals but also better than Manchester City which has conceded 29 goals so far this season.
Forest are also better than troubled Manchester United whose goalkeeper has collected the ball from his net 29 times this season in the Premier League.
Against all odds
To prove this season is theirs to lose, Forest is among only five clubs that have this season scored against table leaders Liverpool FC at Anfield.
What is different with Nottingham is that they didn’t only score against Liverpool but they are so far the only team to have defeated Arne Slot’s side.
It was Nottingham Forest’s first at Anfield in 55 years.
Having shipped in three goals without responding in the same fixture last season, beating table leaders shows they are here to stay.
Forest also beat Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford, in their first win in 30 years but have also picked a point off Chelsea, beaten Tottenham and Aston Villa.
Forest are third in the Premier League – their highest position since 1998 .
The team has been said by bookmakers as one that mirrors Leicester’s 2015-16 season that stunned the sport as they won the Premier League .
Forest’s five wins, four draws and one defeat is identical to Leicester’s record, although they have three more clean sheets than Claudio Ranieri’s side did and a better goal difference by seven.
Coach Nuno Espirito has been credited for this stellar performance, having returned to the Premier League after a spell in Saudi Arabia and there were a few doubters when he replaced Steve Cooper in December 2023.
Prior to that, he had won the Saudi Pro League and the Super Cup with Al-Ittihad but after a short and difficult time at Tottenham, Forest fans would have been forgiven for being underwhelmed at his appointment.
His four-year spell at Wolves ended as things went stale at Molineux and the squad was unable to maintain their spectacular rise from the Championship to the Europa League quarter-finals.
But before the decline, he built a squad – with the help of agent Jorge Mendes – which included young talent like Ruben Neves combined with the experience of Joao Moutinho.
He is slowly doing the same at the City Ground with the arrival of six senior players, including defender Milenkovic who has helped Forest tighten up at the back and concede just 20 goals so far. Only Liverpool – six – have shipped less.
