Nottingham Forest delivered a sensational performance, thrashing Sunderland 5-0 on Friday.
The victory provides a significant boost to their hopes of remaining in the Premier League.
Forest Dominate Sunderland, Ease Relegation Fears
The 5-0 win moved Vitor Pereira’s side on to 39 points. That’s eight clear of 18th-placed Tottenham and six clear of 17th-placed West Ham.
Forest boss Pereira told BBC Match of the Day that his side’s tally “isn’t enough” to stay up quite yet. He added, “We need more points, we need to win more games and we need to keep our mentality.”
In six first-half minutes Forest went from 1-0 up to 4-0 up by capitalising on some Sunderland errors and displaying a ruthlessness in front of goal not seen in the first half of the season.
Are Forest Already Safe?
Twenty-three teams have been on exactly 39 points after 34 games across Premier League history – and none of them have gone down.
There is a strong argument to be made that Forest, and by extension Leeds on 40 points, already have enough to stay up.
When looking at 38-match seasons the average points tally of the side finishing 18th is 34.5 – so 35 points is, on average, good enough for survival.
- Only six teams have ever been relegated from the Premier League with 39 or more points in a 38-game campaign.
- The last two were Birmingham and Blackpool, who both went down with 39 in 2010-11.
Redknapp’s View: Nothing is Certain
“Is 39 points enough to keep you up? Yes, but you have to work on the basis that anything is still possible,” former England midfielder Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports after Forest’s win.
“You are asking Tottenham to win four games… is that going to be possible? We don’t know. Back-to-back wins and it all changes.”
Mathematically, eight more points ensures next season will be Forest’s fifth consecutive campaign in the top flight.
Remaining Fixtures
Forest’s remaining league matches are against Chelsea, Newcastle, Manchester United and Bournemouth.
Tottenham are up against Wolves, Aston Villa, Leeds, Chelsea and Everton.
West Ham still have to play Everton, Brentford, Arsenal, Newcastle and Leeds.
Chris Wood scored for the first time since a double on the opening day, having been sidelined for most of this campaign with a knee injury.
Goalscorer Igor Jesus impressed, former Newcastle midfielder Elliot Anderson was also on the scoresheet and Morgan Gibbs-White was also a key player.
With Forest unbeaten in eight games in all competitions, some are asking if it is time to call the battle to avoid the Premier League’s final relegation spot a two-horse race.