At the beginning of the season, most football fans would have predicted that the Premier League title race would be between Manchester City and Arsenal again, with the possibility of a club like Liverpool muscling in on the action. City have dominated the EPL for the last few years and it didn’t seem as though anything was going to change soon.
However, it’s fair to say that this season has not gone as predicted. Manchester City are said to be “in crisis”, as they struggle to put a decent run together – or even win a game at some points – while Arsenal has not really capitalised, leaving Liverpool to take the reins and position themselves as champions-elect.
However, a recent result proved to many that there is another team vying for a place at the top of the table. Nottingham Forest did not have very good odds of winning the league on any of the best mobile soccer apps in the summer, but they are now firmly placed in the top four and held league leaders Liverpool to a draw at home after winning at Anfield earlier in the season. Can this club – only promoted three years ago – now realistically be considered a title challenger?
Historical Success
For any EPL fan over the age of 35, stories of Nottingham Forest’s past glories must have seemed to have come from a dim and distant age. The club won two European Cups (now Champions League) over 40 years ago and had dropped as low as the third tier of English football. When Forest were promoted back to the EPL in 2022, they were expected to struggle to even keep their place in the top division.
A rehaul of the squad did little to help matters and Forest only just escaped relegation in both of the last two seasons. A points deduction didn’t help last year and more of the same was expected in 2024-25. However, this campaign has been incredible for the team, with fans of a certain age once again dreaming of European football nights in the near future.
Money Talks
One reason why most people still believe that Nottingham Forest will not win the Premier League this season is the size of the club’s bank balance. Yes, Greek owner Evangelos Marinakis has provided a lot of money so Forest could be competitive in England’s top tier – but it is nothing compared to the wealth of the likes of City and Liverpool.
The feeling is that as the season progresses, Forest will not be able to keep up the challenge and its squad will tire. After such a good start to the campaign, there will be no repeat of the relegation scrap experienced in the last two years – but a challenge for the league title could be asking too much of their current squad.
Stable Squad
When Forest were promoted to the EPL in 2022 much was made of the club’s transfer policy. To give the owners and coach at the time some credit, there was a lot that needed changing. That being said however a total of new players arrived that first season, with another 11 the year after.
Such instability meant that consistency was inevitably difficult to capture. But this year has been different. Ryan Yates is still the only one from the Championship days still regularly playing but only a handful of signings came in this summer – and the result has been a much more stable team and squad. A top-four spot may still have seemed a long way off when the season began but vast improvement was perhaps to be expected.
New Coach
Much of that stability – and the ensuing success – can be put down to the head coach. Nuno Espirito Santo replaced the much-loved Steve Cooper in December 2023 and had to win over the crowd as well as keep the club in the top division. He achieved both those goals but has also instilled a new ruthlessness to the squad that has definitely paid off this year.
The Portuguese coach had similar success with Wolves five or six years ago but was in danger of being remembered for a disappointing stint at Spurs and then joining the Saudi exodus. But he has shown real tactical nous since returning to the EPL and now has the opportunity to take another unlikely club into Europe – just like he did at Wolves.
Doing a Leicester
Nottingham and Leicester are geographically close and there is now a lot of talk about Forest “doing a Leicester” this season. The Foxes famously won the EPL in 2016 after being priced at 5,000-1 at the beginning of the season. It is worth noting that Forest had the exact number of points after 20 games as Leicester did all those years ago.
Events like this are rarely seen in modern top-tier football leagues, where elite clubs often outspend their competitors to secure the best talent. If Forest were to replicate Leicester City’s 2016 triumph, it would be just as extraordinary and unexpected.
Champions?
So, can Nottingham Forest win the Premier League this season? The short answer is ‘probably not’. But there is no doubt that the club can be regarded as a realistic challenger. Although there is still a long way to go, that draw against Liverpool kept the points gap at the top in place and Arne Slot’s side will not lose too many more games this season.
Forest may not fall away as easily as some fans might think though. With a strong defensive mindset, a striker enjoying the best season of his career, and a squad all believing in the coach’s tactics, Forest could well push Liverpool and Arsenal all the way. Champions League qualification would seem to be very much on at the present time.
