Nottingham Forest have come a long way in such a short space of time and it feels very surreal to keep glancing at the Premier League table and seeing the Reds sit in third place.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 3 |  Nottm ForestNottingham Forest | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 40 | 27 | 13 | 47 |
Nuno Espirito Santo has not only steadied the ship but he’s placed it firmly into cruise control and taken Forest to the next level as far as the Premier League has been concerned.
Forest struggled in their first two campaigns back at the top table. In 2022/23, Steve Cooper defied the odds amid 30 new players to claw the Reds to safety in the final six weeks of the season.
Last season, Cooper was sacked in December and Espirito Santo only officially secured Premier League survival on the final day of the campaign with a 2-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor.
Cooper didn’t always have the same luxuries that Espirito Santo had. He worked with bigger squads and one thing that the current Forest head coach has strived for is a much smaller, streamlined squad and now the team is thriving on the back of that.
Now, Burnley are going great guns in the league and cup with the Clarets thriving with two players who didn’t always endear themselves to the former Forest boss in their ranks.
Two players who fell out with Steve Cooper at Nottingham Forest star for Burnley
The Clarets are an intriguing team this season. They’ve had more goalless draws than any team in the country but have conceded just nine goals in the Championship this season and are now in the last 16 of the FA Cup.
Boss Scott Parker rang the changes for his team’s trip to Southampton on Saturday. In fairness, the Saints are struggling this season, proving hapless in the Premier League and with Burnley flying a cup upset was always on the cards.
Joe Worrall and Jonjo Shelvey were both named to start in Parker’s team for the trip to St Mary’s Stadium. The pair last played together for Forest back in April 2023 during a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa – a game which proved to be one of Shelvey’s last in a Forest shirt.
On Saturday, however, it was a different story. Worrall led by example at the back – as he so often did for Forest, whilst Shelvey rolled back the years to produce an eye-catching performance during his debut for the Clarets.
The two players led Burnley to a shock 1-0 win and a place in the last 16 of the FA Cup. Worrall surprisingly fell out with Cooper after being omitted from the team last season and was sold to the Clarets back in August.
As for Shelvey, he was largely ineffective for Forest. He always felt like a strange signing and in was absolutely no surprise at all when he was banished to the B-Team following a handful of appearances.
Worrall will forever be remembered by Forest fans
Whatever fans think about Worrall as a Premier League player he will always be remembered for the right reasons at Forest after making 226 appearances for the club he grew up supporting as a boy.
For all the world it felt like he’d be tailor-made to be a Premier League player and captain, however, the top-flight just caught him out a touch when it came to the pace required.
Worrall played 37 times for the Reds in the top-flight. However, he never truly held down a place in the team and it always felt like better players were waiting in the wings to take his spot.
That said, he remains the man who captained the club to play-off glory and with Burnley in a different division to Forest, there is nothing wrong with wishing the player all the very best as he tries to become a first-team regular with Burnley
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