The home fans would have hoped that the hosts’ progression to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals would inspire them. Instead, Forest were dominant in the opening 20 minutes, taking a commanding lead that could have been even greater.
Their opener came after Guglielmo Vicario parried away a searing drive from Morgan Gibbs-White, with the resulting corner from Anthony Elanga being headed away by Pedro Porro - but only as far as Elliot Anderson, who shot from range and benefited from the ball deflecting past a wrong-footed Vicario via the unknowing Rodrigo Bentancur.
A dream start then seemingly became heaven-sent on 10 minutes, when Anderson played a great ball over the line to Chris Wood, enabling him to poke past Vicario.
VAR indicated that he had strayed an elbow offside, but it was only a temporary reprieve for Spurs, as Wood, who leapt like a salmon to head home from Elanga’s cross and send the visiting contingent into raptures.
Spurs’ response was tangible but ineffective - they could have scored twice in the space of two minutes as half-time approached, but Mathys Tel sliced wide and Richarlison sent a header off target, summarising the difference between the two sides up front.
It was half of the Spurs backline that paid the price for that drab first act, with Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero making way for Ben Davies and Kevin Danso at the break.
There was no immediate change in momentum despite that, and though Tel remained the liveliest man for Spurs, Gibbs-White nearly ended the game as a contest just before the hour mark, finding himself through on goal thanks to Wood’s flick-on but firing wide while under pressure.
Now staring squarely at a first league double of head-to-head defeats since 1996/97, Spurs passed up a huge chance at the three-quarter mark, Dejan Kulusevski’s glancing header looked to be looping in at the back post before Harry Toffolo acrobatically cleared the ball in midair with half of it already straddling the whitewash.
Subsequently, Forest somewhat sat back in the remaining minutes, and Sels twice thwarted Richarlison, with the latter save being an impressive fingertip diversion from the Brazilian’s downward header.
A grandstand finish looked increasingly likely, and Richarlison finally broke through with four minutes to go, as he rose high to head in a long cross from Porro.
Sadly for Spurs, it was too little, too late, and regardless of that late lapse in concentration, Forest were full value for their victory.
Exactly three decades after a famous bronze medal under Brian Clough’s successor Frank Clark, Forest’s hopes of dining with the European elite remain alive and well.
Meanwhile, Spurs have now lost a staggering 17 of their last 21 league games against teams starting today in the top half of the table, and they are now also virtually assured of their first bottom-half finish since 2007/08.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)