Nottingham Forest

Pat Riddell
Fan writer

Image source, PA Media

There was a moment early on in Monday's match against Crystal Palace when Elliot Anderson danced past several defenders in a packed box, the ball practically glued to his feet, before sending a shot towards Dean Henderson's goal.

Seconds later, the midfielder whipped in an exquisite ball from distance that Chris Wood met with his head, narrowly missing the target; the kind of opportunity Wood scores more often than not.

And it was Anderson's run down the wing, and the looped ball that followed, which resulted in a headed clearance landing at Wood's feet. The striker did not need any further invitation to score the game's winning goal.

There was bewilderment when Forest signed 21-year-old Anderson in the summer for a fee said to be £35m. That was later reckoned to be £15m in the deal that sent Odysseas Vlachodimos the other way to Newcastle United.

Whatever the fee, the Geordie Maradona - a nickname he acquired while on loan at Bristol Rovers - is probably one of Forest's most astute gs in recent years. Eddie Howe is no doubt still lamenting the Magpies' profit and sustainability situation that saw him lose one of his most talented youngsters.

Always available and keen to be in possession, Anderson can pick a , carry the ball up the pitch, make runs into space and shoot from range. If anyone wondered where he would fit in, they wonder no longer. While clearly favouring being higher up the field, he can easily play as a number six, eight or 10.

Plus, if anyone wondered how Forest would cope without Morgan Gibbs-White - injured and suspended on Monday - then Anderson's performance against Palace proved that Forest's talented squad is now big enough to (almost) cope with star players missing.

It is rare that a new g arrives and fits straight into the first XI. Like Nikola Milenkovic, Anderson is one of those gs, and one of the reasons that Forest now sit comfortably in eighth position in the Premier League.

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Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Monday's Premier League game between Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace.

Here are some of your comments:

Forest fans

Doug: Very good performance, seeing as we had two key players out of the starting line-up. The most encouraging thing was that once we scored, we did not sit back and allow the opposing team to come on to us. A solid defensive performance as well.

Ken: A great win against a side who are better than their league position suggests. The table doesn't lie - we deserve to be where we are. So many brilliant performances from Matz Sels, Murillo, Nikola Milenkovic, Elliot Anderson, Ryan Yates and Chris Wood. Win on Friday and we can go fifth for 24 hours!

James: Another first-class performance by Nuno’s boys! Superb defensive line proving different for any team to breakdown! Pundits need to think again where Forest may finish this season. Many had written us off already but the Premier League has surprises every season. Fingers crossed the Reds will be one of them.

Palace fans

Mark: No lack of effort but lacking confidence. Too much on Eberechi Eze’s shoulders. Struggling in midfield due to injuries. Need a win and quickly. Going to be a long hard season. Must stick with the manager but we could be reliant on the promoted sides faltering or not improving. Massive six pointer against Wolves.

Christopher: Another defeat and of course things are now getting more and more gloomy. I simply cannot see where the goals are going to come from. The defence looks nervous and with a bad error from our goalkeeper, Dean Henderson is going to be extremely nervous against Spurs this Saturday, as will the fans. I’ll be at Selhurst, but it’s going to be a hard watch.

Gavin: Groundhog Day: We started well, but we cannot sustain any momentum. Tactical changes required as we do not look like scoring. Eddie Nketiah needs to play as an out-and-out number nine because he is persistently too deep. Ismaila Sarr should be used for his rapid pace and ability to cross into the box while the midfield is simply ineffective. Incredibly frustrating performances of late.

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Chris Wood has scored seven of Nottingham Forest’s past 10 Premier League goals and five of their eight this season (63%). Only Liam Delap (67% for Ipswich with four out of six) has scored a higher share of his side's Premier League goals this term.

In bagging the only goal against Crystal Palace on Monday, Wood became just the third player to reach 20 Premier League goals for Nottingham Forest after Bryan Roy (24) and Stan Collymore (22).

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Nuno Espirito Santo is not one for big declarations about Nottingham Forest's prospects.

He would not be drawn on discussing the Premier League table - after moving eighth following Monday's win over Crystal Palace - but that is understandable given how fluid the league can be.

Last season, 27 points would have been good enough to survive and Forest are almost halfway there.

The points tally is comparable to 2023-24 and it only took Forest another two games to reach 13 points before six winless games sealed Steve Cooper's fate and ushered in Nuno's era.

Forest's boss spoke about the spirit and bond of his team after their victory and how they cannot ignore the talent of every opponent.

In some ways it is boring, Nuno is never going to write a headline at this stage but he is right to. For Forest, boring is good after the chaos of last season.

A first home win though was far from tedious as Forest edged a contest that genuinely could have gone either way or still ended in a draw. But for Matz Sels' second-half interventions, Palace would have taken a point.

That comes down to the spirit Nuno spoke about and how Forest have to run, cover and have more bodies in the way to stop their opponent.

It was evident on Monday and, while it is too early to make any grand statements just yet, Forest are slowly starting to prove they have both the quality and the work rate to achieve their goals this season.

Image source, Getty Images

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo, speaking after Monday's victory against Crystal Palace: "I saw it was difficult but so I'm happy we can finally give this moment to our fans, always helping and ing us so I'm especially delighted for them.

"It says a lot about the game itself when Matz [Sels] is one of the best players in the team. They are very good, always pressing and so much talent. We are delighted Matz did a very good job and kept us in the game.

"We are delighted but it's not what is important, what guides us. What guides us is the level of performance, to sustain is always the difficulty.

"We want to raise the bar and sustain that level. Before the break we showed how we must play football, we have to run more than them, cover, always have bodies in front and this is what is important.

"It is the spirit and bond so we can progress as a team. It is how we do things."

On goalscorer Chris Wood: "Amazing, we are delighted with not only his goals.

"All his actions in the game, how he leads the team, his set-pieces and more than all that is the impact he has in the dressing room. His leadership, he is a very experienced player for the young lads. We cannot thank him enough."