Heading into the second half of the season in the Premier League, fans of Nottingham Forest are, after an incredible first half to the campaign, dreaming of a spot in next season’s UEFA Champions League.
Could it really happen though, could Forest make the Champions League, or even Europe’s second competition, the Europa League – you’d certainly like to think so.
Mind, so would the club’s in-and-around them in the league table as the second half to the season kicks off this week, Nuno Espirito Santo men not playing until the Monday fixture, when they travel to his former club, and third bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers.
For Forest, they’ve spent the past five weeks in the divisions’ top five, coincidentally on the back of five straight wins – 3-2 at Manchester United (Nikola Milenkovic, Morgan Gibbs-White, Chris Wood), 2-1 at home to Aston Villa (Milenkovic, Anthony Elanga), 2-0 at Brentford (Ola Aina, Elanga), 1-0 at home to Tottenham Hotspur (Elanga), and a 2-0 win at Everton (Wood, Gibbs-White), has seen them push to nose-bleed territory.
It’s been a run that has seen the Reds push onto eleven wins, and four draws, from their opening nineteen outings, only runaway leaders Liverpool have one more (14), second place Arsenal with elven wins and six draws to their name.
Their revelation, Kiwi striker, the evergreen Chris Wood, has notched eleven goals thus far, and en-route to becoming the clubs all-time, Premier League top scorer, ahead of Bryan Roy’s record back in the mid-1990s.
That coincidentally, was the last time in which Forest enjoyed those European nights, when, for the first time in a little over a decade, they played in the old UEFA Cup, reaching the quarter-final stage (1995-96), seeing off Malmo (who they beat win the old European Cup in 1979), and the French pairing Auxerre, and Lyon, prior to falling to the German giants, and eventual winners, Bayern Munich, 7-2 on aggregate.
Thirty years have elapsed since they last qualified for Europe, and a lot has changed in the continent since then, there’s no Cup Winners’ Cup or UEFA Cup for starters, and the European Cup itself has been completely revamped (again) – we’ve now got a new-look Champions League, a Europa League, and a Conference League.
Forest though, they won’t be the only one’s looking at a shot at Europe next season, plenty of clubs around them, in a top ten separated by just ten points between third place Forest, and tenth place Brighton & Hove Albion, will all harbour hopes of tasting European action.
Excluding the usual suspects of Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City (they’ll slip in somewhere), six other clubs, including Forest, are starting to dream, and Forest, during a spell either side (and inclusive) of February, have all those contenders to play on successive matchdays – everything could look a little different come April, and the Reds will certainly want next season wrapped up before the visit of Chelsea come the season’ end.
But what of the other, runners-and-riders, in the current top ten, as we head into the second half of the season, how are they all faring.
Chelsea sit fourth, and sit just two points behind Forest; currently on a three-match winless streak in the league, their form has dipped of late, and will start the New Year with a home game, a London derby, at home to Crystal Palace – they don’t place Forest until they visit the City Ground on 25 May.
Fifth place Newcastle United are, like Forest, enjoying a rich run of form lately, the Magpies having won their last five in all competitions, their last four in the league, and travel to London, and Tottenham Hotspur, in their next outing – Forest are due to visit St. James’ Park on 23 February.
Manchester City have had a torrid time of late and their win at Leicester City in their last outing moved them back up to sixth in the table; hosting West Ham United next, the Citizens aren’t due to play Forest until 8 March when they visit Trentside.
The Cherries of Bournemouth are certainly enjoying their season also., and are sitting nicely in seventh, and just two points off fifth place Newcastle, and are on a seven-match unbeaten run of their own, stretching back to late November (won four, drawn three) – they host Everton next, and face Forest, also at home, on 25 January.
Fulham Athletic and Aston Villa are level on 29 points apiece, just three points off fifth place, going into the first games of the New Year; the former are unbeaten in seven themselves, although just two of those are victories, and host newcomers Ipswich in their next outing, Forest visiting on 15 February, whilst Villa, perhaps hampered by their European exploits in the European Cup, are languishing a little in the league, host Leicester City whilst Forest make the trip to the Black Country on 5 April.
And then there’s Brighton & Hove Albion, the Seagulls sitting tenth, are on the fringes, have drawn their last three, and will look to clip the Gunners when Arsenal visit at the weekend, making the trip to Nottingham on 1 February.
As mentioned though, the majority of that top ten can, and will change, over the next month or so, it just being a little bit of an ask right now for someone to overhaul leaders Liverpool, but of those runners-and-riders who, along with Forest, would love a tilt at Europe, their respective record is as follows (Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City excluded due to regular appearances on the continent)….
Newcastle played in the Champions League as recently as the 2023/24 season following a decade-long absence, and have only had two European excursions since 2007 prior to which it was a seemingly annual occurrence for the Magpies.
Bournemouth, their fans are daring to dream right now and have never had a European excursion – could next season change all that for the Cherries.
Fulham found themselves on a couple of continental forays in 2009/10 and 2011/12, the latter of which saw them playing in the Europa League.
Aston Villa, they’re in European action this season in the new-look Champions League, and played in the Conference League last time around, following a decade-plus absence themselves, suffering Europa League play-off losses to Austrian outfit Rapid Vienna in both 2009 and 2010.
Forest meanwhile, the last time they qualified for Europe was in third place, having finished the previous campaign on 77 points, a dozen behind then champions Blackburn Rovers, and eleven adrift of second place Manchester United.
With current Reds striker, Chris Wood, on eleven goals thus far, and midfielder Elliot Anderson in the league’s top ten for assists, Forest fans may well even be harling back to the clubs glory days of the late 1970s, early 1980s, under Brian Clough – top scorers in that day-and-age would see Peter With, Tony Woodcock, and John Robertson, bagging nineteen.
They can but dream and, who knows where the Reds will be in around twenty weeks’ time.
*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).
*Main image @NFFC Forest celebrate during their win at Everton.
