Nottingham Forest can begin to plan for another season in the Premier League after a stunning 5-0 victory at Sunderland on Friday evening.
Sunderland 0-5 Forest: Pereira delighted by “fantastic” Reds
Vitor Pereira challenged Forest to play “Champions League” football before watching them romp past Sunderland to ease themselves closer to top flight safety.
Forest blew the Black Cats out of the water in a remarkable first half at the Stadium of Light to extend their unbeaten league run to six games and establish an eight-point gap over Tottenham ahead of Saturday’s action.
A delighted Pereira said: “It’s fantastic, fantastic. I asked my team to play at the level of Champions League because the Premier League is our Champions League.
“I said to them, to win at this stadium against Sunderland – they are 10 points above us – it means that we had to play at our best level, and in my opinion, the first half was full, tactically, mentally, pressing, creating a lot of problems from set-plays, scoring goals, conceding nothing.
“In the end, it was about being compact, defending and finishing the game with one more goal. We scored, we didn’t concede, a clean sheet, [and that’s] very important at this moment for us.”
If there was an element of misfortune about Forest’s opening goal – Igor Jesus’ header went in off the back of unwitting defender Trai Hume’s head – there was an air of calamity about the three which followed inside six minutes later in the first half.
Chris Wood made the most of keeper Robin Roefs’ error to extend the visitors’ advantage and sweet strikes from Morgan Gibbs-White and then Jesus with the home defence in tatters wrapped up the points long before the break, Elliot Anderson simply adding to Sunderland’s misery at the death.
With four games remaining, Pereira is refusing to consider his side safe: “In my opinion, it isn’t enough, it isn’t enough, it isn’t enough. We need more points and we need to keep our mentality. We cannot relax.”
The club are however beginning to put plans into place for the summer, and have been strongly linked with an experienced international who is now desperate to leave his club.
Davide Frattesi to Nottingham Forest: Midfielder desperate to leave Inter
According to reports in Italy, via Sport Witness, long time Forest target Davide Frattesi has his ‘phone in hand’ waiting to leave Inter at the end of the season.
The Reds tried to sign the 34-cap Italy international in January, but only in a straight loan deal with no option to buy, while Inter preferred a permanent solution.
With just 12 months left on the 26 year-old’s contract however, the price tag this summer will be minimal, having failed to start any of the Nerazzurri’s last seven league fixtures as they chase down the Serie A title.
For Forest, acquiring an experienced top level midfielder – one who has won league titles and featured in Champions League finals – could go some way to replacing the influence of Elliot Anderson, who is getting closer to a move to Manchester City.
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