(Football news) While Spurs got back to winning ways with a 4-1 thumping of Newcastle United, the Tricky Trees ended their losing run by fighting to a 1-1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers yesterday.
A disappointing performance at Molineux over the weekend was expected to make Forest head coach Cooper the second managerial casualty of the Premier League this season. Cooper was one of several names that had been associated with the Tottenham post prior to Ange Postecoglou signing on the dotted line.
After their midweek horror show against Fulham, where the Forest supporters continued to chant Cooper’s name in a 5-0 demolition, Tricky Trees owner Evangelos Marinakis decided against taking a gamble. His decision was partially justified as Friday’s hosts came home with a creditable share of the spoils.
Cooper made numerous changes from the team that was destroyed at Craven Cottage, and he watched as Harry Toffolo scored the first goal after 14 minutes. Although Matheus Cunha’s reply cost the visitors a valuable victory, the turnaround from their humiliation throughout the week was striking.
Cooper takes Forest into their Friday match with the Tricky Trees in 16th place in the Premier League, five points clear of Luton Town in 18th place and just a point or two behind an increasingly dysfunctional Crystal Palace. The team has avoided a potentially lethal fifth straight loss.
But following an eight-game unbeaten streak at the City Ground from April to November, Forest lost their first two Premier League home games to Brighton & Hove Albion and Everton. The 1-0 loss to the latter was only the team’s third scoreless home game in the top flight since the beginning of the previous campaign.
The other two City Ground matches in which Forest failed to score came against Tottenham in August 2022. In that match, the Lilywhites took the lead and went on to win 2-0, something they had not done in any of their previous five Premier League games prior to Newcastle’s visit this coming weekend.
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