. Adam Bate looks at why their style of play might mean fewer injuries and actually be key to their success…
Given that Nottingham Forest became a punchline to some due to the number of signings under Evangelos Marinakis since winning promotion, it might be a surprise to hear that they have used the fewest players of any Premier League club this season.
That continuity has been one of the secrets of Forest’s success and a run that has taken them into the Champions League places with a six-point advantage over reigning champions Manchester City in fifth with just 14 Premier League fixtures left to play.
Five Forest players have started at least 23 of their 24 games in the competition this season. There is their outstanding goalkeeper Matz Sels, the centre-back pairing of Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo, full-back Ola Aina and the team’s top scorer Chris Wood.
No other team have had as many players start so many games in the Premier League this season. Brighton, the team they beat 7-0 on Saturday, have not had one. Nor have bottom club Southampton or perhaps the season’s biggest underachievers Tottenham.
The temptation is to suggest that this is luck. Maybe Nuno Espirito Santo has just been fortunate with injuries and the absence of European commitments to distract Forest. More likely is that this is both a consequence and a benefit of the manager’s approach.
At Wolves back in 2019/20, a season in which his team played no fewer than 17 games in the Europa League, he had 11 players within his squad who made 33 appearances or more in the Premier League as well. They finished seventh for a second successive season.
Speaking to Nuno at the time about this trait in his teams, he saw it as an evolution in his thinking. “I have had big squads,” he said. “I had big squads at Rio Ave, Valencia and Porto. All managers …
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