Nottingham Forest rise to third after Anthony Elanga goal sees off Tottenham
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The mist rolled in from the Trent to the point where it was sometimes difficult to make out which Spurs player was running down which blind alley in the second half. But what is crystalline clear is Nottingham Forest’s momentum which, after Anthony Elanga’s third goal in successive games, has lifted them into third place in the Premier League.
![[Nikola Milenkovic (right) and Murillo squeeze Dominic Solanke off the ball.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e6b789c00854cc479389aa4ce30c2ede1c469212/0_107_3164_1899/master/3164.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Nuno Espírito Santo, Forest’s former Spurs manager, has organised his team so well that they now have 34 points from 18 games, the same tally they had at this stage in 1987-88, back when Brian Clough was manager, back in the days when the European Cup was only recently lifted.
No manager in Premier League history (with at least 50 games under their belt) has seen his games average more than the 3.6 goals that have flown in during Ange Postecoglu’s reign. Not against Nuno, though. Forest’s fourth consecutive Premier League win came with a clean sheet, and only Liverpool and Arsenal have conceded fewer than their 19 goals in this season’s top flight.
The focus will fall on Tottenham’s continued failings and, after Sunday’s 6-3 demolition by Liverpool, they have now won only twice in nine games. This was their first defeat on a Boxing Day in 17 games but, with Djed Spence sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow card against his former club, the questions will be arrowing in at Postecoglu once again. That is another defender missing for their next game, at Wolves on Sunday, and the Spurs manager needs to find answers soon.
