Latest Nottingham Forest news as Nuno Espirito Santo’s Reds fight for Premier League survival.
Nottingham Forest have six games to rescue their season. It took six games for someone to seize control of the situation and propel the Reds to victory.
If you were to wager on one player to accomplish so, it would be Morgan Gibbs-White. He delights on being Forest’s key man and having the duty of propelling the squad ahead.
Gibbs-White has performed admirably, as he did in 2022/23. Perhaps his year has gone as planned in that regard; he was always supposed to be a significant player again this season.
It’s not surprising if the 24-year-old is awarded the Reds’ player of the year. However, few would have guessed some of the other possible finalists for the award.
If you had looked into a crystal ball in August and predicted that Chris Wood and Neco Williams would be contenders for the title, you would have been laughed at. In fact, you might have been told you needed to lie down.
Williams might have gone on loan last summer. He was regarded as a promising player, but he was in and out of the team during his first year with the club. Leeds United were interested in acquiring him before signing ex-Forest loanee Djed Spence.
Wood, meantime, had yet to persuade at that point. His loan from Newcastle United had become permanent, and doubts about the £15 million fee were being raised – not without reason, given that he had scored one goal in seven games at the end of the 2022/23 season.
In a little less than a year, Wood and Williams are likely to be fixtures of the starting lineup for the run-in. They are both in excellent physical condition.
Wood has 13 goals this season, has scored in four consecutive games, and has struck the net 10 times since Nuno Espirito Santo took over in December. The Reds would be doomed without his goals. Taiwo Awoniyi is getting closer to a comeback, but he may find himself on the bench when he returns.
Gonzalo Montiel, the World Cup winner, is among the substitutes, and it appears doubtful that he will replace Williams unless compelled to do so. Williams has just received back-to-back Forest Player of the Month accolades.
Even if he doesn’t win the overall season award, the Welshman must be considered one of the squad’s most developed players. Not long ago, he was mostly regarded as a wing-back, with some questioning his ability to play full-back. He put that one to bed.
Wood and Williams have both given robust answers to inquiries regarding their positions, as well as responses to naysayers. Even in a difficult season, the Reds have a few possibilities for player of the year, and those two must undoubtedly be in the mix. Last summer, few people anticipated to hear a sentence like this.
