Nottingham Forest really are building up ahead of steam under Nuno Espirito Santo, with his side now sitting in eighth position in the Premier League.
Crystal Palace looked good at times, but they couldn’t find a way past Matz Sels, who put in yet another emphatic display in-between the sticks for Nottingham Forest.
Sels was withdrawn from the Belgium squad during the international break through injury, but managed to pass any tests to play a starring role last night.
Forest now turn their attention towards a reunion with Steve Cooper after his departure from the City Ground, with Leicester City not doing too badly themselves.
Interestingly, Sels wasn’t the only top quality goalkeeper at the City Ground last night, as a summer target and former player of Forest was in attendance.
Nottingham Forest summer target spotted watching the clash with Crystal Palace
Nuno Espirito Santo had to sit up in the stands to watch the game after being handed a three-game suspension for his part in the reaction to Morgan Gibbs-White’s red card against Brighton.
The crazy thing is that Nicolas Jackson escaped without any punishment for physically abusing another player, and Gibbs-White had an independent panel rule in his favour over the yellow.
Nevertheless, Forest came through unscathed in his absence and will now have him back for Leicester, if he recovers from his injury.
One familiar face was spotted at the City Ground last night, with an image surfacing from Sky Sports.
It was Brice Samba who appeared on screen.
Brice Samba’s time at Nottingham Forest
Samba played 133 times for Nottingham Forest and was pivotal in securing the club promotion back to the Premier League.
However, he joined French club Lens for £4 million.
Interestingly, it was claimed that Nottingham Forest tried to sign Samba in the summer transfer window, but nothing ended up materialising.
Carlos Miguel did join in the summer, but he’s not had too many chances as Matz Sels has been superb.
It remains to be seen as to whether he’s simply attending the game as a former player who clearly still has a lot of love for the club or whether there’s a hidden meaning ahead of January.
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