'Big strength' - Nottingham Forest, Leeds, Everton and…

'Big strength' - Nottingham Forest, Leeds, Everton and Leicester managers on relegation battle

Nottingham Forest are three points clear of the bottom three with just two games left of the 2022-23 Premier League season.

Steve Cooper's team have earned four points from their last two games to move out of the relegation zone after beating Southampton before Saturday's 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea.

But there is plenty of work still to do if the Reds want to avoid joining the Saints in the Championship next season. Forest host Arsenal this weekend before travelling to Crystal Palace on the final day.

And our colleagues at Leeds Live have taken a look at what Steve Cooper and the managers of Forest's relegation rivals have been saying. Here is what has been said.

Steve Cooper - Nottingham Forest

Remaining fixtures: Arsenal (H - May 20), Crystal Palace (A - May 28)

He told the club's website: “If we end up where we want to be, I think we’ll look back at today and be more than satisfied with it.

“You see the team Chelsea have and the subs they can make changes with, and away from home, it was always going to be a really tough game, so for the players to commit to the plan we put in place, to show desire, attitude and togetherness they did were real positives.

“I think there’s also disappointment in the dressing room about what could have been, which I like. That’s the culture we are trying to create here. It’s mixed feelings of working really hard to get something out of the game and being satisfied with that, but then at the same time knowing that it could have been different.

“The goals probably sum up what I’m saying with how hard we’ve had to work for ours through strategies and set-pieces, but although they were two good finishes from Raheem Sterling, we’ll look at it and think about how we let them in too easily.

“We don’t blame anyone, we do everything together, which has been a big strength of ours this season. You can see it on the pitch, the culture and togetherness of the group is at a maximum which we’ll need for the final two games.”

Sam Allardyce - Leeds United

Remaining fixtures: West Ham (A - May 21), Tottenham (H - May 28)

He told LeedsLive: "I hope it goes to the wire. All I've said is that when we play Tottenham I hope there's something in it for us.

"We have to keep our fingers crossed a little bit today or tomorrow that the others don't win. We are near that position of let's hope they slip up, but we have to wait to see.

"It’s not in our hands. It's in theirs. So all we can do is what we did today and next week do it better."

Dean Smith - Leicester City

Remaining fixtures: Liverpool (H - May 15), Newcastle United (A - May 22), West Ham (H - May 28)

Asked in his pre-match press conference if the Foxes can still survive, he said: “We can. We were written off six games ago and all of a sudden it’s Leeds and Everton who are written off, now not Everton.

"Monday was our Boomtown Rats day, hopefully it will be for someone else this time.”

Asked on the challenge of facing in-form Liverpool, he added: “Six wins on the spin, and it seems like a difficult time to face them. But they’ve only taken 10 points from 30 on the road.

"We have to produce a Brighton or a Brentford performance against them.”

Sean Dyche - Everton

Remaining fixtures: Wolves (A - May 20), Bournemouth (H - May 28)

He told the BBC via Liverpool World: "It's the same as when I came in - we just need to get it over the line, that's the priority, not Manchester City. Losing our left-back (Vitalii Mykolenko) the day before the game affected the balance of the team but we showed effort.

"We were trying to get the team to play with confidence and there was an element of that. The mentality stood firm.”

Who will join Southampton in the Championship next season? Have your say in the comments section

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