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Nottingham Forest’s 5-0 win against Sunderland puts more pressure on Spurs and West Ham

Nottingham Forest’s 5-0 win against Sunderland puts more pressure on Spurs and West Ham

REMAINING GAMES:

FOREST: Chelsea (A), Newcastle (H), Man Utd (A), Bournemouth (H)

WEST HAM: Everton (H), Brentford (A), Arsenal (H), Newcastle (A), Leeds (H)

SPURS: Wolves (A), Villa (A), Leeds (H), Chelsea (A), Everton (H)

Nottingham Forest boss Vitor Pereira speaking to BBC Match of the Day: “Five goals, a clean sheet, I’m very happy the players, the supporters, the club and the staff. We deserve it because we played a fantastic first half. Congratulations to the people who do the set plays, they did a great job today. Recover, enjoy just a little bit and be ready for the next challenge.

“We decided to come here and press them because we are fighting for our life. When we are fighting we feel the need to do something, not to wait, we decided to press them and we did it very well and the fantastic goals from set plays.

“The second half was a bit different. Some injuries, some yellow cards, and with yellow cards you cannot be so aggressive on the ball. In the end one more goal, we did not concede, I am happy of course.”

On Anderson’s goal: “He makes part of our family. This is the moment to be with him, to support him, to help him everyday. He is a fantastic player with a strong, strong character. He is a fighter, a winner and he proved today again he deserves everything.”

On Wood’s goal: “A fantastic striker. He knows everything about the game. How to hold the ball, how to assist, how to score, how to press, everything. He helped in the defensive set plays. He is a striker who can do everything.

“Morgan [Gibbs-White] also had a fantastic game, Igor [Jesus], Omari [Hutchinson], the defenders, the midfielders too. The speed that we showe, even from the bench, when we do the subs we kept the spirit.”

On being eight points clear from the drop zone: “It isn’t enough. We need more points, we need to win more games and we need to keep our mentality.”

Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris speaking to BBC Match of the Day: “Painful. It hurts to concede a big defeat at home like this so early in the first half, because the game was over after 45 minutes. 4-0 down at half time is hard to explain. It is a strong reminder because when you drop your standards just by 10% your opponent can kill you, and that was the case in the first half.

“After that I think the lads tried to react and showed better energy with strong support from the fans, but it was not enough. At the end we were a bit disorganised [trying] to score at least once and then comes the fifth goal.

“We have different explanations. It is individually? It is collectively? Is it tactically? We have many options to explain this big defeat but in the end it is about our standards. When you are not at the level this league is so demanding and you get punished.

“It has been a long and tough season. We can feel that we are a bit on the edge. It is hard to maintain and sustain the level but this is our job and we want to be proud of our season and our connection to the fans. It is not possible to give up, I don’t think that was the case today but we started too slowly and they were really efficient, their game plan was perfect and we did not adapt. It’s a good lesson and important for the future.”

On set piece frailties: “We felt it last week against Villa, that those situations can hurt us, so we have strong work to do with the coaching staff. It is not only behind the scenes but on the pitch where you have to get better.”

On the fans: “They are impressive, probably better than us today to be fair. We are proud of their support. When it is tough you have to feel the support of your fans and they were behind us. It is a big responsibility to give the right answer to the last four games we have had.”

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