A battling performance helped 10-man Tottenham to yield maximum points at the City Ground with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest on Friday.
Richarlison’s first-half header was added to by a fine strike from the excellent Dejan Kulusevski after the break, but Spurs had to survive the final 20 minutes plus stoppage time with only 10 players after midfielder Yves Bissouma received his second red card of the season.
Forest cranked up the pressure in those closing stages, but some superb saves from Guglielmo Vicario coupled with some excellent controlled defending ensured Tottenham returned to north London with another three points, moving them to within four points of leaders Liverpool before the rest of the weekend matches.
Tottenham should have opened the scoring with their first chance of the game after just three minutes, Kulusevski slipping a ball in behind for Heung-Min Son but Matt Turner saved from close range. Spurs were forcing Forest back in the opening stages and Turner needed to make another smart save in the 23rd minute, Brennan Johnson’s goalwards prod heading in before the goalkeeper’s intervention.
From the corner, Ben Davies got up well but headed just over.