Nottingham, Jan 10 (IANS) For the second time this season, Nuno Espirito Santo has been awarded Premier League Manager of the Month. Having won five of the six games across December, the festive period has been a successful one for Nottingham Forest.
Nuno has now become the first manager to win the award twice in the current campaign.
Forest’s winning run began at Old Trafford, with goals from Nikola Milenkovic, Morgan Gibbs-White, and Chris Wood giving the team an impressive away victory against Manchester United.
The following four games saw Nuno’s side concede just once, scoring seven goals in that time. The goal against came at home to Aston Villa, who had taken the lead at The City Ground. The game against Villa was the first time this season the team had come from behind to pick up three points, as Milenkovic scored his second goal in as many games to equalise in the 87th minute, before Anthony Elanga grabbed a dramatic late winner.
An impressive away win against Brentford followed, with Ola Aina and Elanga scoring as Forest became the first team to beat The Bees at the Gtech Community stadium this season.
Elanga was back on the scoresheet five days later as Forest beat Spurs 1-0 on Boxing Day after a perfectly weighted pass from Gibbs-White on a swift counter-attack.
A trip to Everton concluded the month, as Forest faced a side for the third time in a row that they had previously been unable to beat since promotion to the Premier League. A slick team move saw Wood and Elanga combine for the New Zealand forward to grab his 11th goal of the season. Wood then turned provider for the second goal, with Gibbs-White’s composed left-footed finish securing the points on Merseyside.
The club currently sits in third place in the Premier League table, tied with Arsenal, with 40-points in 20 games and are vying for a sport in the Champions League next season.
–IANS
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