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Nuno and Nottingham Forest are proving to be the perfect match.

There wasn’t much enthusiasm for Nuno Espirito Santo’s appointment when the Portuguese coach replaced Steve Cooper at the City Ground at the end of last year. After failure at Tottenham Hotspur, Nuno was seen as damaged goods. Now, though, he has proved himself as the perfect match for Forest.

10 games into the 2024/25 season, Nottingham Forest are sitting third in the Premier League table. Nuno’s team have lost just once and have taken points from Liverpool and Chelsea, conceding just seven times in the process – only Liverpool have conceded fewer goals than the City Ground outfit.

Defensively, there are few better teams in the Premier League right now. Nuno has built from the back with the centre back partnership between Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic one of the best in the division. Behind them, Matz Sels has been a strong presence in between the posts with Ola Aina getting better with every match he plays at right back.

In central midfield, Nicolas Dominguez and Ryan Yates have given Nottingham Forest security and control in the middle of the pitch. Only Ipswich Town and Everton have averaged a lower share of possession per match this season, but Nuno knows his team doesn’t need the ball to cause problems on the counter-attack. Dominguez and Yates are a valve into the final third.

Nuno’s counter-attacking approach only works because Forest have genuine quality up front. At his best, Morgan Gibbs-White is a force of nature and capable of producing something out of nothing. Then there’s Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga who give Nottingham Forest threat in the wide areas.

Chris Wood is the greatest individual story at the City Ground right now. The New Zealand international has scored eight goals in 10 league games this season and is growing in stature with almost every match he is playing for Forest. Few ever believed that Wood would operate at this level on a consistent basis in the Premier League.

“It’s not me, when you play football it’s about the players,” said Nuno when asked about Forest’s rise this season. “They’ve been working very hard, you see the games and you see the stats: the way we help each other; the desire to win the ball back in the right places. It’s working out okay. The table doesn’t mean anything now. It’s about the next [game] and the next one is always more difficult.”

Nuno is right to point to the performances of his players to explain Nottingham Forest’s surprise run of form, but the former Tottenham and Wolves manager also deserves credit for the way he has sharpened the focus of his team over the past 10 months. This is a side that is comfortable in its identity and clear on its game plan.

At Spurs, Nuno felt the pressure to play a style of football that wasn’t his. Tottenham wanted to play a possession-orientated game when the Portuguese coach typically favours a counter-attacking approach built on top of a solid defensive foundation. At Forest, though, Nuno has had the freedom to mould a team in his own image.

It seems unlikely that Nottingham Forest will remain in the top four until the end of the season with tricky fixtures against Newcastle United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Tottenham coming before the end of the year. This could prove to be the high watermark for Nuno and his players.

Nonetheless, Forest are on an upward trajectory and after a chaotic period following their promotion back to the Premier League two seasons ago have the perfect manager at the helm to build on the success of this campaign so far. Forest’s and Nuno’s perfect union could produce even more.