Martin Chivers, a legend of the sparkling past of Tottenham, paraded at halftime to celebrate his 80th anniversary, but the happiest returns belonged to the forest boss of Nottingham, Nuno Espirito Santo.
Nuno’s time in charge of spurs was brief and unshakable. And his dismissal after four months sent her to turn into Saudi Arabia with his damaged reputation.
When he was invited to English football in December 2023, it was to help the forest avoid relegation and there was little fanfare.
Now here we are, 16 months later and back in N17 to savor a victory guaranteed by goals in the first 17 minutes of Elliot Anderson and Chris Wood, to go to the third row of the Premier League.
Their fans deposited in the wet streets of London singing the Champions League and they will return to the capital for a semi-final of the FA Cup against Manchester City on Sunday.
This match was a nerve test for the forest, engulfed by the hunting pack after two defeats and increased pressure and the spurs helped them with a sloppy opening.
Nottingham Forest took another big step towards qualification in the Champions League on Monday
Angel Postcoglou watched his team undergo his 18th defeat of the Premier League campaign
Elliot Anderson scored the first of Forest when they triumphed 2-1 on Tottenham in northern London
The Ange Postcoglou team started as if it was a pre-season match, conceded twice and could not recover and collapse in its 18th defeat of the Premier League campaign.
They improved and Richarlison pulled one with a head in the 87th minute, but it was too little too late.
The forest was operational in five minutes when the Spurs returned to the genre of occasional defense which had cost them dear to Wolves, where they lost 4-2 during their previous League outing.
Morgan Gibbs-White had little trouble finding space just outside the penalty surface and tested Guglielmo Vicario with a sparkling shot through the surface. Vicario pushed it widely but conceded from the area.
The move of Anthony Elaga had left by Pedro Porro, but only with regard to Anderson who turned him to goal for the first time. His shot was slowly struck, but Vicario was beaten by a deviation off Rodrigo Bentancur, who sent the ball turning in the lawn and above the goalkeeper’s diving.
The forest again had the ball in the net in the 10th minute. Wood turned a pass from Anderson on the fly from only six meters to discover it for offside. It was tight. Var imaging showed it by breaking the offside plan with just a shoulder and an arm.
However, it was not long before Wood could celebrate his 19th Premier League goal of the season. This time, a head of a cross by Elaga from the left of the forest.
Vicario came to steal from his line, his arms extended, the fists together to strike but Wood simply got ahead of him and the ball flashed in an open net.
Two after 17 minutes, Tottenham was brought to earth with an accident after the victory at Eintracht Frankfurt Thursday, where they produced a solid defensive display to obtain a place in the last four of the Europa League.
Chris Wood scored in the 16th minute to pull the forest two goals in advance and in full control of the Spurs
It was another lamentable evening for Tottenham, who slipped in the 16th row after Wolves’ victory on Sunday
Richarlison scratched one for the Tottenham late after missing a catalog of chances
However, they started here, like at Wolves, as a team unable to recycle Focus. Postcoglou has brought five Frankfurt changes, resting some and bringing others such as Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski because they wanted them to play and restore the pace after injuries.
For half an hour, however, they simply looked like a team with spirits elsewhere. Cristian Romero, meanwhile, has Tonna like a red card trying to occur.
A similar feeling was obvious in the crowd with many empty seats and most of the noise emanating from forest fans at the outside end.
The Spurs gathered an answer before half-time. Wilson Odobert and Kulusvski forced Matz Salts to backup with distance fire, but there was no clear luck until Neco Williams had a bouncing ball and presented Mathys like with a goal, five minutes before half-time.
Ten meters, the first time on its left foot from a slight angle, as has gripped it largely.
Richarlison went widely twice in rapid succession before the spurs was hued in the meantime.
Postcoglou changed his semi-centers at halftime to strengthen the feeling that he was at the bottom of an elaborate training exercise, but his team improved in the second half and the forest, which went to a back to three time, became anxious.
Gibbs-White wasted an excellent chance of doing it 3-0, a broad-cutting up when it was released by Wood and Harry Toffolo, making its first start to the Premier League season, produced a great clearance to prevent a head from Kulusvski.
Salts made two beautiful stops from Richarlison, the second of them on his right was his best of the night, but his resistance was finally broken by the Brazilian and he triggered a frenzied fence period.
