Chris Wood netted a hat-trick as Nottingham Forest thrashed Brighton 7-0 to reignite their charge towards next season’s Champions League at the City Ground on Saturday.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s team put on an incredible display as they recovered from a 5-0 loss at Bournemouth last weekend, with Morgan Gibbs-White, Neco Williams, and Jota Silva also scoring after Lewis Dunk’s own goal opened the scoring.
With the win, Forest closes the gap on sixth-place Chelsea by seven points and ties up with second-place Arsenal on points.
Due to English clubs’ impressive start in European tournaments, fifth place in the Premier League this season is nearly guaranteed to be sufficient for Champions League qualification.
Forest, who won the European Cup twice in 1979 and 1980 when the team was at its best under Brian Clough, didn’t participate in Europe again until 1996.
But a run of 10 wins from their last 12 games has put them well on course to end that two-decade wait for continental competition.
