Nottingham Forest will sit third in the Premier League this week after a resounding 3-0 win over West Ham United at the City Ground over the weekend.
Stop the count. Forest are in their highest position since finishing third in the top-flight during the 1994/95 campaign and the Premier League table looks like bliss.
The Reds won on Saturday courtesy of goals from Chris Wood, who scored for the eighth time this season, as well as Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ola Aina.
For the Hammers, it was a bleak afternoon as they had Edson Alvarez sent off on the stroke of half-time for a second yellow card with the score 1-0 to Forest.
It’s a quality start to the campaign for Nuno Espirito Santo’s men and now the team faces Newcastle next weekend knowing a win would send them into the international break in superb form.
Nigel Reo-Coker picks two Nottingham Forest stars out that he’s impressed with
The Reds were dominant in the game from start to finish on Saturday with the red card for the Hammers compounding the misery of Julen Lopetegui.
Forest are now eight points ahead of West Ham who have 11 points from the first nine games of the latest chapter since David Moyes departed.
On Saturday, you could have pulled a name out of a hat for the Man of the Match accolade but Reo-Coker has decided to name two players who seriously impressed him.
He told CBS Sports Golazo: “They’re very hard to beat, very hard to break down, defensively they look so much more solid this season and they’re not conceding as many goals from set pieces which they really struggled with last season.
“Ryan Yates, the captain has been sensational in that midfield area and Morgan Gibbs-White is another player who is doing well. They look like the real deal, you’ve got to remember they don’t have Europe to worry about either so they can just focus on doing what they’re doing in the Premier League.”
Yates epitomises what Forest fans want to see on the pitch
It goes without saying that Yates as a footballer in a technical sense has limitations. He can’t always play the raking forward passes and start attacks but when he understands that, he’s a better player.
What he does bring to the team is undoubted energy levels, a desire to make things difficult for the opposition and an undoubted commitment to do well for the Forest cause.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 2 |  Man CityManchester City | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 11 | 10 | 23 |
| 3 |  Nottm ForestNottingham Forest | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 19 |
| 4 |  ChelseaChelsea | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 12 | 8 | 18 |
Yates – and Gibbs-White – were both in fine form on Saturday as West Ham rolled over and had their bellies tickled during a pathetic second half from their perspective.
At 26, Yates epitomises what Forest fans like to see from the players and at the moment the shirt is for someone else to strip from his back in the quest to get into the team under Espirito Santo.
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