Nuno Espirito Santo Emphasises Improvement Over Table Position Amid Nottingham Forest's Top-Four Aspirations

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Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo remains grounded despite his team's impressive start to the 2024-25 season. Their latest triumph, a 2-0 victory over Brentford, marked their fifth away win in the Premier League. Goals from Ola Aina and Anthony Elanga secured this result, handing Brentford their first home league defeat of the season.

The win at Gtech Community Stadium propelled Forest to 31 points, three ahead of Aston Villa in fifth place, ensuring a top-four position by Christmas. This is the earliest Forest have reached over 30 points in a top-flight season since the 1987-88 campaign when they finished third after 14 games.

Following the victory, Ola Aina described their ascent into the top four as a dream. Some fans are hopeful for a European competition spot in the second half of the season. Forest last participated in European competition during the UEFA Cup in 1995-96. Despite being seen as a surprise contender for Europe this year, Nuno insists that it is not his immediate focus.

"I think we competed really well," Nuno told BBC Sport. "We work very hard every day, so the boys should be happy and proud."

Brentford experienced their first home league loss of the season, having last lost at home on the final day of last season against Newcastle United (2-4). This match marked only their third goalless home game in 2024 after draws with Brighton and Fulham earlier this year.

Despite ending their unbeaten run, Brentford manager Thomas Frank remained positive about his team's performance. He believed they deserved something from the game during its closing stages.

"I thought we performed well, if I'm honest," Frank said. "I thought we were on top in a lot of moments, but we had more dangerous moments without having clear-cut chances."

Nuno's Focus on Improvement

Nuno emphasised that while fans are delighted with recent successes, there is still much work to do. "It's about enjoying the moment," he stated. "It's a very hard competition. Every game is so difficult and the next one is going to be very tough."

He added that although they are proud of their achievements so far, they have not accomplished anything yet. The focus remains on improving and recognising that there is still a long journey ahead.

"Defensively, it was probably our best performance of the season," Frank noted regarding Brentford's efforts. "Of course, we have conceded two goals, but that's different."

The second goal resulted from an error while acknowledging room for improvement on the first goal as well.