Nuno Espirito Santo admitted no one at Nottingham Forest expected to be third in April but backed his team to capitalise after they started a huge week with victory at Tottenham.
Forest had fallen to sixth in the Premier League after weekend wins for Uefa Champions League qualification rivals Manchester City, Chelsea and Aston Villa, yet responded impressively at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday.
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 2-1 win and 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 positive spirits.
“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.”
Nuno 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."
Ange Postecoglou admitted an 18th league loss of the campaign was “unacceptable” but took encouragement from Tottenham’s display.
“It’s another game we have lost where we shouldn’t lose and it’s been a big part of our season in that we are just making things really difficult for ourselves in key moments,” Postecoglou said.
“It’s a shame because our football was outstanding and we totally dominated the game. Even with the two goals we conceded, I still feel like we deserved to win the game.
“At the same time it’s another loss and another unacceptable loss.”
Promotion joy for Leeds and Burnley
Leeds and Burnley will play Premier League football next season after clinching promotion from the Championship on Monday.
Leeds boss Daniel Farke praised his players for holding their nerve after a 6-0 home win against Stoke helped seal promotion after a two-year absence from the top-flight.
Burnley’s 2-1 triumph over third-placed Sheffield United at Turf Moor in the evening kick-off confirmed both the Clarets and Leeds woluld finish in the top two with the beaten Blades dropping into the playoffs.
Farke said: “The way we have performed in the last few weeks, the spirit and quality of the performances and the consistency of the results, especially with the clean sheets, has been second to none.
“It’s really amazing and all the credit goes to the boys for the way they have handled this situation, not just the quality of the performance, but the mentality and spirit has been unbelievable.”
Burnley captain Josh Brownhill joked the Clarets had “bored our way to the Premier League” after they clinched their return at the first attempt.
Scott Parker’s side have conceded just 15 goals in 44 matches and Brownhill, who scored both goals against the Blades, told Sky Sports: “We’ve been written off so many times, people calling us boring, but we’ve bored our way to the Premier League again.”
For Parker, it was a third Premier League promotion with three different clubs in the space of six seasons, after achieving the feat with Fulham and Bournemouth.
“It’s emotional for me,” Parker said. “The main emotion comes from the pride I have for the group.”
