Man City set for Conference League demotion after Forest do their bit to realise our new dream

Forest remain in the race for the Champions League and have given the rest of us hope of seeing Man City plumb hilarious new depths in the reign of Pep Guardiola.

In mid-January, having won their seventh game in eight, Nottingham Forest were level on points with Arsenal in second; as close to Liverpool (6 points) at the top as Newcastle in sixth. By the start of April they had increased the margin to sixth to seven points.

European football amounts to a quite astonishing achievement no matter the level for a Nottingham Forest side that finished 17th last season on less than half the points they’ve won with a game to play this term.

But failing to qualify for the Champions League having held one of the spots for so much of the campaign will be a blow, if not a crushing one, after a run of one win in six games allowed the more typical (let’s call them boring) challengers in.

Odds are we’re still set to be denied the pleasure of Evangelos Marinakis storming the Bernabeu for suspiciously heartfelt reasons, with Forest occupying a Conference League spot with one game to play. But with that last game at the City Ground against a Chelsea side entirely capable of not turning up under what will be massive pressure, Forest will at least be confident of doing all they can to make it, as they did at the London Stadium.

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West Ham are the team you want to be playing. Not counting the victory over Manchester United last time out – because why would you? – they’ve not won since February, with a record of four draws and four defeats in that time arguably and incredibly more than they’ve deserved.

Alphonse Areola gifted Morgan Gibbs-White a goal with an ill-advised and awful pass into midfield that was easily read by the playmaker before being swept home to give Forest a lead that ordinarily means victory no matter the opponent, let alone West Ham.

Forest fan nerves during an absurdly long VAR check for Nikola Milenkovic’s goal midway through the second half should have been assuaged by their side winning 17 and losing just two of 24 games in which they’ve scored first this season and West Ham failing to win and losing 16 of the 22 games they’ve gone behind in.

At that point, no-one anywhere thought Graham Potter’s side were scoring a goal here, which the VAR officials could have been forgiven for taking into account by the fourth minute of a six-minute check in order to get on with the p*ssing game.

Jarrod Bowen was on the pitch, though, and his wonderful touch and finish in the 86th minute prompted a collective sh*tting of the bed from Forest as West Ham finally woke up for what turned out to be another 21 minutes featuring more weird and pointless VAR checks, a fine save by Matz Sels and other unforeseen nonsense besides.

But Forest held on for a win which raises the delightful prospect of five teams being separated by one point fighting for three Champions League spots on the final day. All we need is an Alexander Isak-less Newcastle to lose to Arsenal at the Emirates and a potless, downtrodden Manchester City to lose to Bournemouth on Tuesday, having already lost 2-1 to the Cherries earlier in the season, to make a four-screen setup a requirement next weekend. It’s perfectly possible; maybe even on the probable side of possible.

Our Arsenal dream would be over but The Next Best Thing of Manchester City playing Conference League football would be in the offing, making FA Cup final defeat all the more glorious in denying them not just a trophy but qualification for a superior European competition than their seventh-place league finish affords them.

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Pep Guardiola’s side have a testing trip to Fulham on the final day after the visit of Bournemouth and we would counter the widespread confidence the majority of pundits have shown in them through claims like ‘they’ve got enough quality’ and ‘know what to do in this situation’ by questioning where that quality has been for most of this season and when these players were last battling to qualify for the Champions League.

So well done, Forest. You’ve done your bit to stay in the race for your ultimate prize and have given the rest of us hope of ours in seeing City plumb new depths in the reign of Guardiola, in the absence of a verdict on their 115 charges which had promised much more this season.

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