Nottingham Forest are now nervously looking over their shoulders as the walls closed in on their push towards Champions League football.
Everton aren’t the same side that were abysmal against Forest in a 2-0 defeat back in December, with David Moyes steadying the ship.
This was a well-drilled effort from a team who came with a clear game plan to stifle the counter-attacking threat of Forest on home soil and they achieved superb success.
There is no need to panic from a Forest perspective.
The Reds remain in third place in the Premier League table and there are still six games for Forest to achieve the unthinkable and secure a place in the Champions League.
However, another defeat does throw up some conundrums for Nuno Espirito Santo and the challenge now is to get ready for a tough trip to Tottenham.
Alex Moreno was so disappointing vs Everton
Ola Aina was always going to be a huge miss at the back for Forest.
The Nigerian injured his calf against Manchester United and hopefully, he can return before the end of the season for Forest as the business stages come into play.
Alex Moreno was handed the chance to start at left-back, and it’s fair to say he looked rusty.
He didn’t seem to stop many crosses throughout the game and allowed the Everton winger Jack Harrison too much time to cause havoc on the right-hand side.
Moreno is unlikely to be at Forest next season.
He’s due to go back to Aston Villa and it seems almost certain that the Reds will look for a better left-back to slot into the team during the 2025/26 campaign.
On this showing, that would be a wise move.
Alex Moreno stats vs Everton
The Spaniard has largely been decent for Forest when he’s been called upon, but this was a pretty abject showing.
He didn’t cover himself in glory when Murillo was dispossessed in injury time and made a real hash of trying to block the pass from Dwight McNeil.
| Alex Moreno stats vs Everton | Total |
| Minutes | 90 |
| Duels won | 3/9 |
| Possession lost | 17 |
| Tackles Won | 1 |
Moreno needs to dust himself down and quickly after this display.
He will be needed between now and the end of the campaign and it’s imperative that he starts to show the sort of form that he did when he first signed on loan from Aston Villa.
