12 April 2025
Nott’m Forest 0 Everton 1
Tensions are building in Nottingham as we edge towards the end of the season. Nobody could have ever dreamt of the position they find themselves in, looking to book their place in next season’s Champions League competition. They welcomed Everton to the City Ground, hoping to grab an important three points to distance themselves from the chasing pack.
It was The Toffees who started the brighter in the match. They were finding pockets of space all over the pitch to exploit. Harrison fed the ball into Garner, who got a first-time shot away. Sels got down well to block but it wasn’t the most testing effort, he should have done better. It offered itself as an early warning however to Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.
The timely return of Ndiaye from injury seems to make such a difference to this Everton team. Everything they did well stemmed from the attacker. Harrison was seeing a lot of the ball out wide and was giving Moreno a torrid time. One such cross from the Leeds man picked out the Senegalese forward, but his header was never going to test Sels in the Forest goal.
David Moyes, stood on the touchline sporting a cut to his eye, was more than happy with what he was seeing from his side. The positive play from The Toffees was no doubt enough to take his attentions away from whatever fight he had seemingly lost in the week. The City Ground was like a library as they watched Everton dominate their team.
Forest were struggling to create anything and there was a real nervous tension in the air. Such that hadn’t been experienced since the Sheriff of Nottingham was parading around on horseback. In a rare attack, Hudson-Odoi cut in from the wing to get a shot away but it was not enough to test Pickford, although the short-armed keeper made an awkward save like an outfield player forced into his first attempt at goalkeeping.
Whatever the Forest manager said to his team during the break seemed to have the desired effect. They seemed to have a lot more about them from the off. Anderson robbed Gueye of the ball in the middle of the park and fed it out wide to Hudson-Odoi. He checked inside to fashion a shooting chance but, once again, his effort was tame and would not have tested a small child in goals.
Ndiaye had a big chance to give the visitors the lead. A long ball forward was a superbly controlled by the Toffees’ attacker but Sels closed him down quickly to give him no time to plot a finish. He got to the rebound to try and poke it towards goal but Murillo hacked the ball clear. You wondered at this stage whether the visitors would pay for their lack of clinical edge in the final third.
The hosts started to probe as Gibbs-White delivered a teasing ball into the box. Wood went down, immediately looking at the referee but he was not having any of the half-hearted appeals for a penalty. Hudson-Odoi whipped a cross into the back post and the improvised flick from the Forest skipper was easily saved by Pickford in the Toffees’ goal.
It was end-to-end stuff at this point. Harrison continued to tease Moreno but his cross just evaded the head of Doucoure. As they recycled it, the big midfielder had a chance to get a shot off at goal but it was well blocked by Willians. Not that the Forest defender was appreciating his own efforts as he lay on the floor in pain as the effort struck him straight in the family jewels.
Moyes’ side were creating plenty of half-chances but they seem to be lacking that sort of player capable of seizing upon the opportunities. If this were a game of FIFA, they would be immediately trawling the transfer market for a legends card Tim Cahill. The American was always capable of getting himself on the scoresheet for The Toffees.
Deep into added time, Nott’m Forest forced their first corner of the game. As it was half-cleared, the hosts looked to pass it around to come back at Everton. However, a poor touch from Murillo allowed McNeil to steal the ball. He strode down the wing as The Toffees suddenly had a three on two with time fast running out.
McNeil looked to thread a pass through the middle, which picked out Doucoure at the back post. He calmly slotted past Sels to ensure that Moyes’ side were leaving the City Ground with all three points. It was no more than Everton deserved, they had dominated Nott’m Forest for the duration of the match. There was an eerie silence apart from the away end which was going berserk.
The defeat put a serious doubt over Nott’m Forest actually holding onto a Champions League spot as all of their fans and players had craved. What has been a superb season for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, now was threatening to implode at the most important moment. You learn more from defeat than you do victory, it remains to be seen how Forest will react to this result.
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