West Ham and Spurs face fight to death as Forest thrash Sunderland

After four managers and eight months of anguish, Nottingham Forest have surely secured Premier League survival after thrashing Sunderland, a result that made a mockery of both teams’ league positions.

Forest were magnificent, swaggering into a four-goal lead before half-time. Sunderland were woeful, a pale shadow of the side who had got into a position to challenge for European football.

But the ramifications of this result will be felt hardest in London. A relegation battle that once included four now looks like a straight fight between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. Forest moved eight points clear of third-from-bottom Spurs, one point behind Leeds United.

It surely means one of the big boys is going to drop into the Championship, unleashing a torrent of criticism and animosity in north or east London. Neither of those clubs should be fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table. In truth, neither should Forest. They have far too many talented players to be in a relegation battle, but where Nuno Espírito Santo, Ange Postecoglou, and Sean Dyche failed, Vitor Pereira has excelled. He has brought cohesion and solidity, allowing their attacking players to thrive. A season that once flirted with catastrophe could now end with safety and a major European trophy. Nobody is mocking Forest anymore.

Sunderland are well drilled and are one of the most athletic teams in the country. They know what they are good at and normally execute well. Not on this occasion. Which, given they are still competing for a European spot, was flabbergasting.

They played like a team with one eye on the summer – a number of their players have been linked with big-money moves – and after a bright start, could barely string more than a couple of passes together.

There was a lack of fight and a lack of pride.

After a wonderful season, in which survival was assured weeks ago, this was the sort of hammering many feared they would be on the end of back in August. That it has come in April offers some mitigation, but the hosts were woeful and hundreds of supporters appeared to leave the stadium before the first half had finished. It was hard to blame them.

Goalkeeper Robin Roefs made an excellent early save to deny Omari Hutchinson, who had cut inside and whipped a left-footed shot towards the bottom corner, but still conceded four before the break.

Sunderland might have taken the lead early on, but teenager Chris Rigg, having scored his first Premier League goal last weekend against Aston Villa from a similar position, hit a tame shot straight at Matz Sels. It unravelled from there.

Forest have found a way to play under Pereira that is reminiscent of Forest at their best under Nuno. They got the ball forward quickly and effectively. With Igor Jesus and Chris Wood paired in attack, they always had the numbers up top to cause trouble.

Sunderland’s defence looked fragile from the start and Forest took the lead from a well-worked set-piece: a short corner played back to Hutchinson whose dipping, inswinging cross landed perfectly on the head of Jesus at the far post. The Brazilian was jumping before Trai Hume could get airborne, and in trying to head the ball back across goal, it deflected in off the full-back’s head.

The confidence surged through Forest and they almost had a second when the Sunderland defence backed off and Wood was allowed to shoot. Roefs made a decent save but it was hit too close to him.

Forest looked hungrier, sharper and refused to be bullied by Sunderland, as others have been. Time and again in the first half, they won the ball in midfield as Sunderland tried to play through them and exposed the back line.

It knocked Sunderland completely out of sorts, forcing mistakes and a howler from Roefs gave them the second.

Trying to play out of the back, the Dutchman’s pass, intended for Granit Xhaka, was cut out by Wood, who deflected it to Morgan Gibbs-White. The Forest captain knew what to do before the ball arrived, passing it back to Wood, who controlled it with his right foot before deftly knocking it past the goalkeeper with his left.

“It gives us some breathing room and puts pressure on the two chasing behind,” Wood said. “Back-to-back wins do that for you.

“We built on the second half from last week [against Burnley], that is what we wanted to do. We want to build and get better and show what we are capable of. We started fast and what we did today was fantastic.”

Xhaka said: “It is hard to explain straight after the game. What I can say is that we apologise to our fans. They were easy goals we conceded today. Three set-pieces and the coach has just said in there that if you drop one per cent of your maximum then you are dead. You get punished and we got punished at home.”

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