Nottingham Forest lost 2-0 to Manchester City at Wembley Stadium on Sunday to miss out on making the FA Cup final for the first time since 1991.
The Reds lost after goals from Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol, but in the second half, Nuno Espirito Santo saw his side give absolutely everything to get back into the game.
Morgan Gibbs-White is wanted by Manchester City and he struck the woodwork twice, with Taiwo Awoniyi and Anthony Elanga also missing chances.
It wasn’t to be for Forest, and now the team has just five games remaining in the Premier League, with Champions League football firmly at stake for the City Ground outfit.
There is still a lot to play for Forest this season and the hope will be that the performance against City doesn’t knock the team’s confidence too much.
Stuart Pearce shares regret he thinks Nuno Espirito Santo will have
The team selection did spring a surprise or two on Sunday, with 18-year-old defender Zach Abbott making his first FA Cup start at right-back.
There was another surprise when it was confirmed that Anthony Elanga wasn’t starting the game, with the Forest head coach utilising him as an impact substitute at half-time.
Pearce felt that once the dust has settled, he might regret not playing the £15 million signing from Manchester United from the start against City.
He said on TalkSPORT: “The early goal knocked their confidence a bit.
“To be fair, when the dust settles with Forest they’ll have a few regrets, maybe Elanga not starting the game, I even looked at the formation slightly, for most of the game you’ve got Anderson playing on the left hand side and Morgan Gibbs-White was asked to track back on the right and that’s not their favoured positions.
“There will be a few regrets, it wasn’t the Forest that we’ve become accustomed to seeing.”
Elanga has to start vs Brentford
It’s fine if Espirito Santo now sees the Champions League as a priority and perhaps there’s an argument that he was saving Elanga for the Brentford game all along.
The player has picked up a minor niggle in recent weeks but it was anticipated that he’d probably start the game against City on Sunday.
Now, the player is surely fully fit and there really is no excuse not to utilise the winger and speed merchant from the off against the Bees.
Forest have five games to achieve the unthinkable and qualify for the Champions League, with Elanga going to be crucial during these final games of the campaign.
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