Tottenham 3-1 Nottingham Forest: Spurs move up to fourth place thanks to powerful strikes from Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro in the second half.

Tottenham took control of the top four after second-half goals from Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro beat relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest 3-1.

After Aston Villa dropped points at home to Brentford on Saturday, Spurs knew a win would send them fourth on goal difference and with a game in hand, but Chris Wood’s first-half goal ensured that the match was tied at the break.

Danilo’s own goal gave Tottenham the lead, although they were perhaps lucky to still have 11 players on the pitch in the second half after James Maddison caught Ryan Yates off the ball towards the end of the first 45.

Maddison avoided punishment and helped the hosts to a crucial win by striking twice in five minutes in the second half thanks to fine finishes from Van de Ven and Porro to propel Ange Postecoglou’s side above their Champions League rivals.

This match was originally scheduled for Monday evening, but was brought forward due to a planned train strike and in the early hours of Sunday morning a man was stabbed to death near the stadium.

The hosts took an early lead after Forest defender Murillo sent the ball into his own net.

Despite roads around the ground being closed due to a police investigation, the match went ahead and it was Nuno Espirito Santo’s first return to Tottenham since his dismissal in 2021.

Nuno’s unhappy spell lasted just 17 matches, but he almost scored a wonder goal to celebrate in the 11th minute.

Forest centre-back Murillo produced the most outrageous effort from almost 70 yards with Guglielmo Vicario off his line and the Spurs keeper could only watch nervously as the ball sailed inches wide.

Murillo found the net four minutes later, but it was his own as Tottenham took the lead.

The hosts moved the ball to the left where Timo Werner delivered a dangerous cross, which Murillo misread past Matz Sels.

It was almost 2-0 when Werner worked a yard of space and his cross found Brennan Johnson, but the former Forest striker was denied by a brilliant point-blank save from Sels.

It proved crucial when Wood scored for a fourth straight game after 27 minutes.

Neco Williams and Anthony Elanga combined on the right before the latter crossed for Wood, who drilled past Porro’s legs to make it 1-1.

Wood should have doubled his tally seven minutes later when Vicario denied Yates and was first to collect the loose ball, but Forest’s top scorer smashed his close-range effort against the post.

An action-packed opening 45 ended with Maddison lucky to escape punishment after kicking the ball into the stomach of Yates, who went down and called for VAR to intervene.

Referee Simon Hooper decided to simply speak with both men as they remained level at the break.

Postecoglou had seen enough and made a double substitution at half-time, which worked almost immediately, but a 25-yard curler from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was brought down by Sels.

But Forest looked dangerous throughout the first half and equalized through Chris Wood.

Spurs returned from the break with new confidence and took the game to their visitors.

Wood had his blushes spared by the offside flag moments later when he inexplicably headed wide of a Williams cross.

The match had now taken on an end-to-end feel but it was Tottenham who seized the momentum with two goals in the space of five minutes.

Both came from unlikely sources, with Van de Ven heading home from the edge of the penalty area for his first Spurs field goal in the 53rd minute.

Soon after, full-back Porro competed with his fellow defender for the end of the evening with a sweet half-volley after excellent work from Maddison, who leapt down the left and saw his cross taken over by Bentancur to which Porro shoots home.

Speaking after Tottenham’s 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest, goalscorer Micky van de Ven said on Sky Sports: “It’s a great evening, a really important game for us and a massive three points.

“I saw Sonny (Son Heung-min) get the ball and I thought if he passed me the pass, I would hit him. I saw it coming and all I could think about was celebrating. It was my first goal in this stadium and I will never forget it.

“It was an important game and we need to build on that.”

Micky van de Ven shot past Mats Selz to give his team the lead again in the 53rd minute.

Spurs maintained their momentum and Pedro Porro scored his first Premier League goal to seal the victory.

Timo Werner, whose cross led to a Murillo own goal, said: “I do my best to assist and help the team with these runs and these balls. Fortunately, it was the opponent who put the ball in the net and not one of our guys but it doesn’t matter, I’m very happy.

“I think we didn’t start too badly, we had control. Their goal was a good attack from Forest and after that we weren’t at our best, but in the second half I think we controlled the game. We finally deserved the victory.

Son Heung-min hit the post late on, but it didn’t matter as Tottenham moved up to fourth, while Forest remained 17th.