Harry Toffolo sends Nottingham Forest message, Anthony Elanga and Neco Williams wowed
Harry Toffolo received plenty of praise from his Nottingham Forest team-mates after his display against Tottenham Hotspur on Monday.
Forest picked up their first win in three attempts to re-rail their push for the Champions League places, and climbed back up to third in the Premier League table with a deserved 2-1 victory in North London.
Elliot Anderson and Chris Wood’s goals – both of which came in the first 16 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – were enough to secure victory for Forest, despite Richarlison’s late header for Spurs.
Nuno Espirito Santo‘s side have been no strangers to backs-to-the-wall performances throughout their rise up the table, and Monday’s victory showed that Forest have plenty of squad depth to call upon.
Harry Toffolo shines in first Nottingham Forest start
In a season which has seen Forest’s defence deservedly receive plenty of praise for its contribution to their effective style of play, Toffolo has barely featured with a meagre six appearances to his name.
The left-back has been either left on the bench or out of the squad entirely for almost all of Forest‘s matches in all competitions, yet didn’t look out of place in his first league start against Tottenham.
| Player | Appearances | Starts | Clean Sheets | Benched | Games Missed |
| Harry Toffolo | 6 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 15 |
After a performance which included an acrobatic clearance off the line to deny Dejan Kulusevski early in the second-half, Toffolo posted on his Instagram account (22 April) and said: “What a night”.
Numerous Forest players left comments in support, as opening goalscorer Anderson said; “so good”, and Morgan Gibbs-White added: “What a player but [an] even better man.”
Anthony Elanga and Neco Williams both acknowledged Toffolo’s dogged defensive work; and the former said; “Top shift from you my man!”, before the Welshman also stated: “What a shift”.
Toffolo’s Tottenham performance unlikely to save Forest career
Although Toffolo has proven his worth as an effective squad player in his scarce appearances for Forest this season, Nuno Espirito Santo will be keen to upgrade if the Reds do reach the Champions League.
Football Insider revealed last month that Evangelos Marinakis wants Forest to compete for ambitions targets such as Victor Osimhen this summer, but this will also require departures to go the other way.
The choice between selling the likes of Morgan Gibbs-White and other squad players such as Toffolo will be an absolute no-brainer for Nuno, and as Forest look to avoid another PSR breach, expect Toffolo and other fringe figures to potentially be shown the door.