UEFA update is brilliant news for Nottingham Forest and Nuno Espirito Santo 

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Nottingham Forest have already exceeded the expectations for the 2024/25 campaign with just 13 games left to play.

Instead of looking over their shoulder, Forest can start to dream and are locked in a race sign secure Champions League football for next season.

Forest are third in the Premier League table. Nuno Espirito Santo takes his team to Newcastle on Sunday and the Reds can go nine points clear of the Magpies with a victory.

Even the most ardent of Forest supporters could have predicted a season of this magnitude and any sort of European competition next season would make for a brilliant campaign.

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UEFA update is brilliant news for Nottingham Forest

It does feel as though Forest’s chances of winning a place in next season’s Champions League have just been enhanced somewhat.

BBC Sport have released some figures from UEFA that suggest that England are almost certain of winning an extra place in next season’s Champions League through the coefficient.

Six of the seven teams that qualified for European competition last season are still in their respective competitions and right now England top the coefficient table.

That will mean that five places are up for grabs from the Premier League table and that can only bolster Forest’s chances of getting a spot in the elite European competition next season.

Forest have rich history with famous Champions League trophy

It would be quite something if Forest, after just three seasons back in the Premier League, can secure a place in a competition that they used to qualify for regularly.

Okay, the competition has changed a lot. When Forest dominated Europe in the late seventies and early eighties it was merely called the European Cup but the trophy remains the same.

For fans of a certain age, reaching the Champions League will make for an emotional moment. It would see the Reds defy the odds and leave a host of big clubs very envious indeed.

There is still a lot of football left to be played of course. However, if Forest stay grounded, keep playing well and get some big results over the last three months of the season, a fifth-place finish is well within the team’s grasp.