Nottingham Forest ended the year on a high by beating toothless Everton to move up to second in the Premier League.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s high-flying side are quickly turning into the story of the season with stellar showings that are threatening to disrupt the top-flight’s elite.
With Arsenal not in action until Wednesday, victory at Goodison Park guaranteed finishing the day just a place behind leaders Liverpool, who travel to West Ham later on Sunday (kick-off 17:15 GMT).
Striker Chris Wood was involved in both of his side’s goals, netting a delightful finish for his 11th league goal of a fruitful campaign, before feeding Morgan Gibbs-White for the captain to coolly convert in the second half.
New Zealander Wood had given the Everton defence a couple of warning signs when he fired a long-range volley wide and flicked a header over, but made no mistake when exchanging headers with Anthony Elanga before producing a lofted finish over the stranded Jordan Pickford.
At the other end, Armando Broja was given his first Toffees start and showed quick feet on the edge of the area but drilled wide, while Ramon Sosa should have doubled Nottingham’s lead before half-time when played through, but the Paraguayan sent his shot the wrong side of the post.
Gibbs-White made sure of the points just after the hour mark, cutting inside and firing home to lift Nottingham up to being Liverpool’s closest title challengers at the halfway stage.
