Nottingham Forest 0-2 Tottenham: Player ratings as 10-man Spurs hold on at City Ground
Tottenham Hotspur piled the pressure on Steve Cooper with a 2-0 victory at Nottingham Forest on Friday night.
Spurs dominated possession but seldom had control of the match on a testing evening at the City Ground, with Ange Postecoglou's men digging in deep to secure the three points.
Cooper's Forest have now lost five of their last six and are slowly sliding towards the relegation zone, sitting five points clear of the bottom three.
Tottenham went close to taking the lead just three minutes in when Dejan Kulusevski picked out the run of Son Heung-min in behind, but his close-range effort was denied by the leg of Matt Turner.
Forest were intent to sit in deep and hit Spurs on the counter, with Anthony Elanga first to test Guglielmo Vicario. The Italian stood tall to deny the Swede after round the visitors' backline, and though a late offside flag went up, replays suggested Elanga may have timed his run to perfection.
Turner came to Forest's rescue again when former teammate Brennan Johnson poked a shot towards goal, only for the American to get down and palm his improvised effort behind. From the resulting corner, Ben Davies headed narrowly over.
Spurs were under the cosh for much of the first half, but took the lead just before the break when Richarlison leapt high to nod in a perfectly whipped Kulusevski cross.
After the break, Forest threatened following a set piece as Elanga was able to turn and find Willy Boly free at the far side of the 18-yard box, but the defender lost his composure and fired over.
Just before the hour mark, Forest had the ball in the net. Neco Williams' cross was diverted in from six yards by Elanga, but the goal was ruled out for offside after a VAR check.
Back down the other end, a last-ditch block
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