NOTTINGHAM FOREST |
1 | TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR |
0 | |
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(1) | (0) | ||
Date : – Thursday 26th December 2024 |
Kick off : – 15.00 |
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Competition : – Premier League |
Venue : – City Ground |
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Crowd : – 30,200 |
Referee : – Craig Pawson (Sheffield & Hallamshire) | Linesmen : – Mr. Simon Bennett; Mr. Dan Robathan | |
Fourth official : – Dean Whitehouse | ||
VAR official : – Michael Salisbury | VAR Assistant : – Akil Howson | |
Weather : – Chilly, misty | ||
Forest kicked off the first half attacking the Trent end | ||
Playing time : – 90 + 7 minutes |
NOTTINGHAM FOREST | TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | |||
GOAL-SCORERS | ||||
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Elanga 27m 59s | None | ||
CARDS | ||||
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Yates (foul on Son) 10 | ![]() |
Dragusin (pulling back Hudson-Odoi) 49 | |
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Anderson (foul on Solanke) 45 | ![]() |
Spence (throwing ball down) 75 | |
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Murillo (foul on ) 65 | ![]() |
Maddison (dissent) 77 | |
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Spence (foul on Jota) 90+4 | ||
TEAMS | ||||
26. | Matz SELS | 20. | Fraser FORSTER | |
34. | Ola AINA | 24. | Djed SPENCE ![]() |
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5. | Nicola MILENKOVIC | 14. | Archie GRAY | |
31. | MURILLO ![]() |
6. | Radu DRAGUSIN ![]() |
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7. | Neco WILLIAMS | 13. | Destiny UDOGIE ( 23. Pedro PORRO 81) | |
22. | Ryan YATES (c) ![]() |
30. | Rodrigo BENTANCUR ( 15. Lucas BERGVALL 64) | |
8. | Elliott ANDERSON ![]() |
29. | Pape Matar SARR ( 10. James MADDISON 64 ![]() |
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21. | Anthony ELANGA ![]() |
22. | Brennan JOHNSON | |
10. | Morgan GIBBS-WHITE ( 2. JOTA Silva 82) | 21. | Dejan KULUSEVSKI | |
14. | Calum HUDSON-ODOI ( 24. Ramon SOSA 87) | 7. | Heung-Min SON (c) ( 16. Timo WERNER 81) | |
11. | Chris WOOD ( 9. Taiwo AWONIYI 87) | 19. | Dominic SOLANKE | |
Substitutes | Substitutes | |||
33. | Carlos MIGUEL | 40. | Brandon AUSTIN | |
15. | Harry TOFFOLO | 3. | Sergio REGUILON | |
19. | Alex MORENO | 64. | Callum OLUSESI | |
30. | Willy BOLY | 42. | Will LANKSHEAR |
= Assist
= Goal scored
= Own goal scored
Manager : – Nuno Espirito Santo | Manager : – Ange Postecoglou |
Kit Supplier : – adidas | Kit Supplier : – Nike |
Shirt Sponsor : – Kaiyun Sports | Shirt Sponsor : – AIA |
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – Ideagen | Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – Kraken |
Colours : –![]() |
Colours : –![]() |
Images of kits courtesy of the marvellous Colours of Football website | |
MATCH REPORT |
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After the previous three Spurs matches with five, seven and nine goals, it might have been reasonable to extrapolate that this game would deliver eleven. As it happened, this produced only one to determine the outcome and that came for the home team.
After Forest kicked off, Spurs won the ball and Kulusevski looked to scoop the ball into the box for Son, but it went through to Sels, then, with the ball on the edge of the Forest box, Pape Matar Sarr went down but the referee deemed that he hadn’t been fouled. There was a free-kick at the other end when Bentancur fouled Gibbs-White when he was played a short pass by Spence, but the ball was played in low and skipped up off the wet turf into Foster’s midriff. It was a fast start and when Kulusevski won the ball inside the Forest half, he moved the ball onto Son, who ran to the edge of the box before putting in a shot that had no power and was straight at the keeper. Five minutes in, Ryan Yates committed his first foul of the day, barging over Sonny in the Spurs box, shortly followed by a tackle by Anderson that left Brennan Johnson holding his ankle. Yates got booked in the tenth minute for a “rustic” challenge from behind on Son. It was really only going to be a question of time. Spurs didn’t make anything from the free-kick, being just inside the Forest half, but the home side broke and Hudson-Odoi flashed a shot over the bar coming in off the left. The fouls on Spurs players continued with Gibbs-White throwing himself at Udogie then claiming it was his shoulder, whereas he broadsided the Spurs man. Tottenham’s passing was falling short of the intended receiver, but when Forest picked one off and looked left for Elanga, Destiny had gone back with his to win possession. The first back-pass that Fraser Forster got, the home crowd “Ooh-ed” in anticipation that he would get caught by a Forest player dwelling on the ball, but he played it long to Johnson, who headed it on down the line for Kulusevski, but Spurs ended up turning the ball back. While getting into some good wide positions, the final ball into the box was poor with Sels taking a couple of crosses unchallenged. When Spurs moved the ball quickly, they looked better, with Solanke having a shot blocked before it came to Johnson in the area and he forced Sels to a save, but Gibbs-White won the ball as it was cleared and suddenly, Elanga had a shooting opportunity at the other end, dipping it over the bar. The winger did better when Gibbs-White slipped the ball to him on the right of the D when they counter-attacked on the half-hour and he slid the ball across Forster to nestle the ball in the opposite bottom corner. It was tight for offside, but after VAR had a long look the goal was given. A loose pass out by Forster to Dragusin went past the Romanian, who then had to make a sliding interception in the Spurs box when the ball was played in low. Seven minutes before the break Tottenham put together their best move with Kulusevski showing his strength to hold off Williams and he threaded a short pass past the defender for Johnson running in to hit a shot that was at a decent height for the keeper to push over the bar for a corner. Sels had a worrying moment a couple of minutes before half time when Spence’s dipping cross left the keeper unsure of where it was going and he was fortunate to see it dip wide of the goal. There was only going to be one minute added on, but Anderson dived into a nasty tackle on Solanke’s ankle and went into the book, giving Spurs a free-kick to the right of centre which Son curled at a good height but a couple of feet to the right of the goal. At the start of the second half, we had some good passing around the Forest box, but it ended with Dejan dragging a weak shot wide. Dragusin was booked in the 49th minute for a pull back on Hudson-Odoi as he tried to ruin off him and then any advantage the home side had was wasted when Gibbs-White pushed over Sarr off the ball. A cross was heading for Chris Wood, when Forster came for it and got a good hand to it, but it fell for Gibbs-White, whose follow-up was blocked by the Spurs keeper and although Elanga kept it in, Spurs won the ball to break and win a corner. From it, Dragusin appeared to push a Forest defender down, then Gibbs-White and Solanke both went down and it ended up as a goal-kick. After couple of corners, Sels punched one clear, Sarr volleyed it back at goal and although it was blocked, Johnson did well to turn in the box and force Sels to block his shot with the loose ball hitting Murillo’s arm while he was on the ground. It was never going to be a penalty as he was supporting himself on that arm but VAR had to have a look at it before they confirmed no penalty. Tottenham had a little spell of not being able to get the ball clear of their goal with Forster again slapping a cross out that Elanga didn’t make a decent contact with and it dribbled through to the Spurs keeper and then a long period of penalty-box wrestling resulted in Milenkovic heading over. Ange decided to change up the midfield with Bergvall coming on for Bentancur and Maddison replacing . Lucas was kicked on the shin straight away by a late Murrillo boot and he saw yellow for it. Maddison also made an impact, sending Yates sliding the wrong way with a turn that gave him space to shoot, but he put it too high. Another poor finish, this time at the other end, came in a Forest attack that saw a shot spin up In the air and Aina took a massive swipe at the ball and topped it wide. Pawson was mugged when Maddison made a tackle that was given as a foul and then Djed slammed the ball down in frustration so got booked. Forest had brought on Morato for Elanga and dropped deeper, but also dropped to the ground more and more. Postecoglou’s final throw of the dice was to take off Udogie and Son and bring on Werner and Porro. Forest made some substitutions along with Bissouma replacing the injured Dragusin, with Awonyi coming on and he caused confusion in the Spurs box, but hit a shot into the side-netting. Spurs pinned Forest back into their box as the game approached five minutes of added time but couldn’t find a way to goal. A ridiculous decision by Spence to bring down Jota when he tried to break away outside his own box when a corner was cleared, so it gave the referee the opportunity to pull out a second yellow card and the Forest player had been looked for it, suckering Djed into the challenge. It was the end of any challenge we might have made at the end of the match. Not only did we suffer a defeat to one piece of good finishing from Forest, but potentially have lost two more defenders; Spence definitely for one match and Dragusin possibly for longer depending on how badly he was injured. Thankfully Bentancur came through without getting booked, so will be available for the Wolves match, because the way things are going, he might be needed to play centre-half ! Whether it is the run that the team are on at the moment, or the tiredness in the legs and minds, but there seemed to be a reluctance to take Forest players on in the attacking third. It resulted in the ball being passed around with inevitably, a ball coming in from a deeper position and not Although Tottenham dominated possession, Forest are set up to soak up pressure and hit on the break and that was where their goal came from. With a limited choice of players and a run of nine game sin December (this was the eighth), you could see the toll it has taken on the players. Our press is not as full-on as it was and players like Kulusevski look all in. He keeps going, but without support, he can’t do it all on his own. With another injury and with Spence getting sent off, it hurts us further in areas where we are pretty thin already. The match against Wolves, who have two wins in two under their new manager, looks a lot more daunting than it did a couple of weeks ago. Patrick O’Hanrahanrahan |
MATCH NOTES |
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OTHER RESULTS | ||||
Mancashter City | 1 | Everton | 1 | |
AFC Bournemouth | 0 | Crystal Palace | 0 | |
Chelsea | 1 | Fulham | 2 | |
Newcash United | 3 | Aston Villa | 0 | |
South Coast Big Club | 0 | West Ham United London | 1 | |
Wolverhampton Wanderers | 2 | Mancashter United | 0 | |
Liverpool | 3 | Leicester City | 1 | |
Brighton & Hove Albion | 0 | Brentford | 0 | |
Woolwich Wanderers | 1 | Ipswich Town | 0 |
Premier League Table 2024-25
Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Points | Goal difference | ||
1 | Liverpool | 17 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 40 | 17 | 42 | +23 |
2 | Woolwich Wanderers | 18 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 35 | 16 | 36 | +19 |
3 | Chelsea | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 38 | 21 | 35 | +17 |
4 | Nottingham Forest | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 24 | 19 | 34 | +5 |
5 | Newcash United | 18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 30 | 21 | 29 | +9 |
6 | AFC Bournemouth | 18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 27 | 21 | 29 | +6 |
7 | Mancashter City | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 30 | 26 |
28 | +4 |
8 | Fulham | 18 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 26 | 23 | 28 | +3 |
9 | Aston Villa | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 26 | 29 | 28 | -3 |
10 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 18 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 27 | 26 | 26 | +1 |
11 | Brentford | 18 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 32 | 32 | 24 | 0 |
12 | Tottenham Hotspur | 18 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 39 | 26 | 23 | +14 |
13 | West Ham United London | 18 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 23 | 30 | 23 | -7 |
14 | Mancashter United | 18 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 21 | 24 | 22 | -3 |
15 | Everton | 17 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 15 | 22 | 17 | -7 |
16 | Crystal Palace | 18 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 26 | 17 | -8 |
17 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 18 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 29 | 40 | 15 | -11 |
18 | Leicester City | 18 | 3 | 5 |
10 | 22 | 40 | 14 | -18 |
19 | Ipswich Town | 18 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 33 | 12 | -17 |
20 | South Coast Big Club | 18 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 11 | 37 | 6 | -26 |