Reds stay cool in a close finish

NOTTINGHAM Forest shrugged off any nerves to mark the start of a big week with three points in the capital.

- By SARAH CLAPSON

The Reds triumphed 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night and Champions League qualification remains in their own hands with five games to go. But not only did victory in north London boost Forest's European hopes, it also provided the perfect lift ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City (4.30pm).

Here's the latest from my Forest notebook:

Points target

Based on the last five seasons, a total of 66 points is the average needed to finish fifth in the Premier League. Their win over Spurs puts the Reds six points away from that target, as they hit the 60-point mark with 33 games played.

However, the battle to finish in the top five and qualify for Europe’s elite club competition remains nail-bit-ingly close. Chelsea and Aston Villa, in sixth and seventh respectively, are only three points behind Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

With that in mind, goalkeeper Matz Sels does not want to take any chances. The Belgian has made clear Forest cannot take their foot off the gas in the final weeks of the campaign.

"With 66 points you are normally quite sure to finish in the top five but this season it might be a little bit more because all the teams around us keep winning,” he told Sky Sports (via the BBC) after the full-time whistle on Monday.

“There’s five games to go and we know what we need to do.

“We will see where we can end up but we already played an amazing season. We can be proud of what we did up until now but we want to give everything to finish there in the top five.”

Clearance secrets

A mind-blowing clearance from Harry Toffolo just past the hour mark against Spurs proved to be a pivotal moment in Forest's win. The full-back somehow managed to hook the ball off the line to thwart Dejan Kulusevski with only centimetres to spare.

And the secrets behind that moment? Stretching and set-piece coaching, according to the man himself.