Nottingham Forest title charge continues apace while Lopetegui sack fears eased

Nottingham Forest continued their stunning form with a home win over Tottenham, while Julen Lopetegui eased speculation over his West Ham future.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side jumped into the Champions League qualification places with a run of three successive wins in December, overcoming Manchester United, Aston Villa and then Brentford.

But victory over Spurs combined with Chelsea’s home defeat to Fulham and Liverpool playing the late game on Boxing Day means that at least temporarily, Forest are five points from the Premier League summit with 18 games played.

It was a trademark win founded on phenomenal defensive foundations, less than a third of the possession and a scintillating counter-attacking goal set up by Morgan Gibbs-White and finished by Anthony Elanga.

Spurs remain in the bottom half of the table despite being the best Premier League team since the 1990s, while Djed Spence added to the misery with a stoppage-time red card for two bookable offences.

Spurs did have their chances through captain Son Heung-min and former City Ground favourite Brennan Johnson but Matz Sels and Nikola Milenkovic stood firm to help Nuno get one over on the side which sacked him in November 2021.

Bournemouth kept up their unbeaten run but slipped down to sixth after drawing with Crystal Palace, as Newcastle thumped 10-man Aston Villa.

The Cherries have not lost in their last six games but might have hoped for more against a Palace side fighting relegation.

Andoni Iraola’s side did have more shots yet the breakthrough never came; Ismaila Sarr was again front and centre with a goalline clearance and disallowed goal.

West Ham pushed closer towards the top half and above Manchester United – who face Wolves in the early evening kick-off – by beating doomed Southampton 1-0.

Jarrod Bowen scored the only goal of the game as Lopetegui further eased speculation over his future by going a fourth match unbeaten. Ivan Juric lost his first game in the St Mary’s dugout since replacing Russell Martin.

In the other Boxing Day fixtures, Chelsea were stunned by a late comeback to lose to Fulham at Stamford Bridge and Manchester City’s miserable run continued against Everton.