FOOTBALL – Nottingham Forest cranked up the pressure on their relegation rivals by thrashing Sunderland 5-0 in the Premier League last night, moving eight points clear of the drop zone.
Trai Hume’s 17th-minute own goal opened the floodgates, with Chris Wood, Morgan Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus all finding the net in a six-minute first-half burst at the Stadium of Light.
Elliot Anderson capped off the win with a goal in stoppage time.
The victory gave Vitor Pereira’s 16th-placed Forest – who are unbeaten in six successive league games – 39 points with four games to play.
It puts more pressure on West Ham United, who are 17th on 33 points, and Tottenham Hotspur, who are 18th on 31 points. Both West Ham and Spurs play this weekend.
Compounding Sunderland’s misery, Dan Ballard’s second-half goal was chalked off after VAR determined that Nordi Mukiele tripped goalkeeper Matz Sels.
Forest’s goalkeeper preserved the clean sheet with a terrific late save, stretching to tip Enzo Le Fee’s blistering close-range strike over the bar.
Forest’s victory comes five days after they scored four second-half goals to beat Burnley 4-1.
“It’s quite special,” Gibbs-White told Sky Sports.
“I didn’t think we could top the other day, but we go and do it. I think that’s just credit to the boys, and shows the character in the dressing room and the belief and the confidence that we have right now going into games.”
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