The mist rolled in from the Trent to the point where it was sometimes difficult to make out which Spurs player was running down which blind alley in the second half. But what is crystalline clear is Nottingham Forest’s momentum which, after Anthony Elanga’s third goal in successive games, has lifted them into third place in the Premier League.
Nuno Espírito Santo, Forest’s former Spurs manager, has organised his team so well that they now have 34 points from 18 games, the same tally they had at this stage in 1987-88, back when Brian Clough was manager, back in the days when lifting the European Cup was a recent memory.
No manager in Premier League history (with at least 50 games under their belt) has seen his games average more than the 3.6 goals that have flown in during Ange Postecoglu’s reign. Not against Nuno, though. Forest’s fourth consecutive Premier League win came with a clean sheet, and only Liverpool and Arsenal have conceded fewer than their 19 goals in this season’s top flight.
The focus will fall on Tottenham’s continued failings and, after Sunday’s 6-3 demolition by Liverpool, they have now won only twice in nine games. This was their first defeat on a Boxing Day in 17 games but, with Djed Spence sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow card against his former club, the questions will be arrowing in at Postecoglu once again. That is another defender missing for their next game, at Wolves on Sunday, and the Spurs manager needs to find answers soon.
The proliferation of backdrop stories made this a fascinating match-up even before a ball was kicked and it was soon just as intriguing on the pitch. The game was set for a clash of styles – and this favoured Forest no end.
Even as Spurs dashed and probed, dominating possession, Nuno’s current team looked poised to inflict damage on the counterattack. Brennan Johnson, forming an all ex-Forest right flank with Spence, was given a warm welcome back to the City Ground as he was ruggedly felled by Elliot Anderson; Forest were clearly up for the fight.
When Elanga scored, it did not come against the run of play, even if Spurs, with their territorial advantage, might have claimed to be controlling the game. When he has a team playing how he wants, Nuno knows how to control games without the ball.
From one break, Callum Hudson-Odoi came back inside from the left and shot just over with his right foot. Who would have thought he had that in his locker? Then a lightning fast counter culminated in Elanga dipping a shot just over.
The goal, when it came, epitomised the precision under pressure that Forest possess, even at pace. Good pressing midway in their own half allowed Morgan Gibbs-White to pick up the ball and drive forwards in a situation he so often thrives in. He must dream about this, like a labrador puppy chasing a tennis ball in his sleep. The England man travelled a third of the pitch before dispatching the perfect through pass, right in behind Destiny Udogie, so that Elanga did not have to break stride as he opened up his body and cut the ball, left-footed, just over Fraser Forster and into the far corner.
Johnson came close to equalising before half-time when, showing a superb first touch to receive a pullback from the byline, his shot from close range required an excellent save from Matz Sels. Spence flashed a cross-shot across the face of goal; Son Heung-min’s free-kick rippled the side-netting, but from the wrong side for Spurs.
With Udogie back at left-back and Rodrigo Bentacur shielding the back four, Spurs’ absences might have been less keenly felt against lesser opponents. With the goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and the defenders Ben Davies, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero still out, however, Postecoglu was given more substance for his argument that new signings will be required in January.
Forest could have been two goals to the good before, reverting to five at the back and with Spurs dominating the ball and the territory for the final half-hour, the game felt more in the balance.
Forster had palmed out Elanga’s cross for Gibbs-White to come steaming in for his shot to be blocked and the loose ball somehow stay out of Spurs’ goal.
For all their dominance, though, the nearest Spurs came to an equaliser was when Pape Sarr’s cleared shot was returned into the box for Johnson to take a neat touch, eight yards out, only for Sels to save at his feet.