These are concerning times for Vítor Pereira. Nottingham Forest’s fourth permanent manager of this crazy season may be only four matches into his spell in charge but – given owner Evangelos Marinakis’s record – his position is already looking precarious.
A second Premier League defeat in succession since he was appointed to replace Sean Dyche a fortnight ago leaves Forest sweating just two points clear of the drop zone and facing a daunting trip to Manchester City on Wednesday. They never looked like capitalising on West Ham’s heavy defeat against Liverpool on Saturday against a Brighton side packed with experience and who recorded their first home victory for two months thanks to goals from Diego Gómez and Danny Welbeck – his 10th of the season – to ease more of the pressure on Fabian Hürzeler.
But while this time the Brighton head coach left the pitch to cheers rather than boos, as his side now find themselves 11th in the table and looking upwards, Pereira must find a solution to Forest’s lethargy after a campaign when they have struggled to cope with the demands of European football. Matz Sels – the hero of their penalty shootout victory here in the FA Cup sixth round last season – was the only change from the team that faced Liverpool last week. He replaced the injured Stefan Ortega after a much-altered team survived a scare in the Europa League against Fenerbahce on Thursday.
