The amazement that Nottingham Forest are 90 minutes from Champions League qualification is wearing off. The reality is a victory over Chelsea and another top-five rival dropping points would leave them facing the continent’s elite for the first time in more than 40 years.
Nuno Espírito Santo deserves a lot of credit for moulding the squad into his vision of a hard-working defensive unit that is lethal on the counterattack. When he arrived, everything was far from perfect but he used what was available to create a formidable front four. One of those players, the left-winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, had arrived from Sunday’s opponents after his Stamford Bridge career stalled.
