Nuno Espirito Santo acknowledged no one at Nottingham Forest expected to be third in April but backed his team to embrace the challenge after they started a huge week with victory at Tottenham.
Forest had slipped to sixth in the Premier League after weekend wins for Champions League qualification rivals Manchester City, Chelsea and Aston Villa, yet responded with aplomb in the capital.
Early efforts by Elliot Anderson and Chris Wood put Forest in control and, while Spurs created a number of chances, Richarlison’s 87th-minute header proved too little too late as Forest claimed a potentially pivotal three points in the race for the top five.
After they required a final-day win at Burnley last season to stay up, Nuno’s men have gone from strength to strength and Wood’s 19th goal of the season means they return to London on Sunday for an FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City in buoyant mood.
“First of all, we have to realise that we are in a fight that no one expected, us included, and it’s normal, but I don’t want to prove nobody wrong,” Nuno said.
“It’s about us. We have a big desire to compete and the players enjoy. We are in the mix against big teams and that can only make us proud.
“We embrace the challenge. We are ahead of a big week for us, we’re going to Wembley to compete against a big team and there are a lot of games ahead of us. As long as we keep this approach, competing well, you never know.”
Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson (right) celebrates with team-mates after scoring their side’s opening goal against Spurs
Nuno watched Forest make the ideal start with Anderson’s strike deflected past Guglielmo Vicario in the Spurs goal in the fifth minute and it was 2-0 after 17 minutes.
Wood ghosted in between Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven to head home Anthony Elanga’s cross.
Tottenham improved, but Mathys Tel and Richarlison squandered first-half chances before Dejan Kulusevski’s 59th-minute header was brilliantly cleared off the line by Harry Toffolo.
Matz Sels then thwarted Richarlison twice before the Brazil forward did head home a Pedro Porro delivery with three minutes left, but Forest held on.
The match momentum chart shows how dominant Tottenham were in the game
He added: “Of course the final minutes were full of anxiety, wishing the time to go faster and Tottenham put us against the ropes.
“We are very proud of the way we competed.
“I think the team competed well at the start of the game, we achieve goals and we were dominant even without the ball to try to contain Tottenham.
“Even though they had chances, we had Matz (Sels) again at a high level, the clearance from Harry Toffolo, but spirit is about that.”
Sels: We know what we need to do
Matz Sels admitted Nottingham Forest have had an “amazing season” as they returned to third in the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Tottenham.
The goalkeeper made some important saves during Monday’s meeting in north London and is targeting a top-five finish.
He told Sky Sports: “With 66 points you are normally quite sure to finish in the top five but this season it might be a little bit more because all the teams around us keep winning. There’s five games to go and we know what we need to do.
“We will see where we can end up but we already played an amazing season. We can be proud of what we did up until now but we want to give everything to finish there in the top five.”
“I did well in the last years in France but maybe the people here in England do not follow that league. The last deadline day was not easy to stay here with Forest but the Gaffer had a plan and he created something really good.
“Even last year when I came here it was almost the same team, so already we had a lot of quality. In the Premier League there are no easy games. We started the season well and the victory at Liverpool gave us a lot of confidence and the belief came bit by bit.”
‘Win at Spurs a huge psychological boost’
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher on Forest’s win at Spurs:
“It feels huge for Forest, not just the points and where it puts them in the table, but psychologically with what has happened in the last couple of weeks. They’ve had defeats and the opposition have been smelling blood in and around them. Other teams have been in great form in Aston Villa, Newcastle and Man City. That was a big result.
“You could see what Nuno wanted to do in the second half. We’ve seen them do it so often this season, going to that back five. Not always at half-time, but he backed his defenders and his goalkeeper to get a clean sheet. They almost did it.
“It was a bit nervy for them late on. The goalkeeper made some really good saves and there was a goal-line clearance that was out of this world. But Forest have been a revelation and I think most neutrals want to see them keep going until the end of the season. They don’t want to see it peter out.”
What’s the state of play in the race for the Champions League?
The race for the top five is tight, as only two points separate Newcastle in third and Aston Villa in seventh, with five more game weeks left.
Newcastle remain in third despite their harrowing 4-1 defeat at Aston Villa, but Nottingham Forest could climb above them if they can win their game in hand at struggling Tottenham on Monday Night Football – live on Sky Sports.
Man City leapfrogged Forest into fourth after their 2-0 win at Everton and closed the gap on third-placed Newcastle to one point.
Chelsea also went above Forest and into fifth following their dramatic 2-1 win at Fulham.
Chelsea, Forest and seventh-placed Villa are all locked on 57 points, separated only by goal difference.
