Latest Nottingham Forest news as Vitor Pereira's Reds claim huge 3-0 win over relegation rivals Tottenham
Head coach Vitor Pereira got the perfect response after asking his Nottingham Forest players how much they wanted to remain in the Premier League before their clash with Tottenham Hotspur.
The Reds triumphed 3-0 in the capital to boost their survival hopes. Goals from Igor Jesus, Morgan Gibbs-White and Taiwo Awoniyi clinched the three points for the visitors.
Victory meant Forest jumped above their opponents in the table and moved them three points clear of the relegation zone with seven games to go. Pereira has called for the same again from his team when they return from the international break for the run-in.
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He said: “We are in a moment of the season where if we want to be in the Premier League next season, we need to feel that… the question I asked them before the game was ‘how deep do you want to be in the Premier League next season?’
“How much can you sacrifice from yourselves to be in the Premier League next season? This is the answer that we need for ourselves. If we want a lot, we need to do a lot. This is the spirit, and when they come back I want it again.”
Victory in north London came on the back of the Reds’ triumph over FC Midtjylland in midweek which put them in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. They did not have it all their own way against Spurs, though.
“A good week for us. Difficult game,” Pereira said. “We started in a good level with the ball, trying to play in our way, but after 20 minutes we started to play their way. It was difficult for us.
“But in the end, we didn’t concede a goal. Some luck, I can accept. A lot of spirit.
“We scored from a corner we had worked on yesterday. At half-time, it was a very hard decision for us to stay with the same XI because the temptation is to sub some players and defend with a five.
“We decided to start with the same players and the same shape but trying to play our game. I asked the players to be themselves and play with the ball. We played at a better level in the second half.
“In a week where you win two games, it is important to give confidence and believe in ourselves. They showed they have character and personality. The supporters deserve it and the players deserve it.
“We won an important three points. But the spirit and the correct mentality is to believe you can get points everywhere.
“We have a lot of points to get until the end of the season. We must keep our mentality. We proved we can get points from every game. It is not about Tottenham, West Ham and Leeds, this is about us as a team - what we want as a team, what we want to be as a team and as players.
“If we want to play at our level or if we want to come here with fear, because of the stadium and the supporters. This is about us.”