Nottingham Forest have started brilliantly in the Premier League this season.
The Reds sit in third place going into today’s clash with Newcastle at the City Ground having won five of the opening 10 matches.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 3 |  Nottm ForestNottingham Forest | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 19 |
Under the stewardship of Nuno Espirito Santo, Forest have improved considerably from 12 months ago when Steve Cooper couldn’t buy a victory.
Evangelos Marinakis considered sacking Espirito Santo twice last season but he’s now being backed for showcasing loyalty.
Forest have been in fine form this season and the hope will be that things can continue going forward.
There have been vast improvements across the pitch and one statistic in particular has really caught the eye.
Anthony Elanga currently the best in Europe in one statistic
Well, this is surprising for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it’s a statistic involving set pieces and last season Forest would have only made such tables of data for being horrendously bad.
Only Burnley conceded more set-piece goals than Forest last season and the team weren’t much better at taking them.
This season, enter Anthony Elanga.
IMPECT on X have delivered some set-piece statistics that have Elanga top of the pos when it comes to UEFA’s top five divisions.
He’s currently outperforming Raphinha and Luka Modric when it comes to expected threats from corners.
It’s madness to think that Forest have a corner taker at the top of this list – and even more surprising that it’s Elanga.
Last season, he was never considered the player to be taking corners but this season it’s obviously been something that’s been worked on.
Elanga is still striving for his best form this season but these stats clearly showcase exactly what he’s bringing to the team.
Forest were wise not to sell Elanga to Newcastle
Today’s opponents were heavily linked with Elanga in the summer and at one stage it looked as though they’d got their man.
Forest did well not to sell Elanga to Newcastle and despite what his critics might think, he’s adding to the team.
Elanga hasn’t been at his very best this season but there is enough to suggest in recent weeks that it’s not through a lack of trying.
Clearly, he’s bringing something when it comes to set pieces and perhaps Espirito Santo has pulled off a masterstroke by getting Elanga on those situations.
It’s great to see so many Forest players producing the goods when it comes to statistics and long may that continue as the season progresses.
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