Nottingham Forest lost 3-1 at Tottenham on Sunday and the result leaves the Reds, managed by Nuno Espirito Santo, looking over their shoulder at the teams below them in the Premier League.
Forest were perhaps unlucky not to leave the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with more to show for their efforts, with Chris Wood missing a golden chance to put the Reds ahead.
Gary Lineker bemoaned Wood for that effort and Forest were left to rue the miss as they succumbed to a second half of dominance from the hosts.
Espirito Santo will have taken some positives from the Forest display, however, and now he must focus on a City Ground clash with Wolves this weekend.
A couple of positives did emerge from this game though and the statistics suggest that two players should be utilised in tandem going forward.
Espirito Santo must play two stars together against Wolves
In recent weeks, Espirito Santo has largely got his Forest team selection right. However, that hasn’t always been the case and for a short period, some questions were being asked.
One problem that supporters did have was the decision to play either Anthony Elanga or Callum Hudson-Odoi – but not both.
Against Crystal Palace, he didn’t pick Elanga and against Luton, he chose not to start Hudson-Odoi. When Forest played Brighton in March, neither of the wingers started!
On Sunday, Espirito Santo picked both Forest stars as he did against Fulham – and now some statistics have showcased why he must keep picking them.
These stats come from The Other 14 on X and it would appear as though Elanga and Hudson-Odoi can be pretty lethal in tandem.
Against a team like Tottenham, the Forest duo were in flying form on Sunday and Elanga took his goal contributions to 13 for the season with an assist.
The Other 14 show that Elanga and Hudson-Odoi both made four successful dribbles this weekend – the second-most of anyone without including the big six players.
Time for Forest head coach to get things right
It’s hard to not give Espirito Santo some credit since he came to Forest – even if he did replace the popular Steve Cooper.
Forest have played their best football this season when the team’s best players have been on the pitch and now that has to come into play.
The time for experimenting with the team is done and Espirito Santo must keep things simple now and pick the players who he knows are the best.
Elanga and Hudson-Odoi are both in fine form and ultimately when they’re working together on opposite sides, Forest look like a real threat.
The Reds are only out of the drop zone and goal difference. With Elanga and Hudson-Odoi in full-flight things could change very quickly and Forest could find themselves pulling clear if Espirito Santo makes the right call.
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