At the start of the season Jamie Carragher wasn’t alone in fearing for Nottingham Forest’s Premier League survival. But with just six games left to play, the Liverpool legend’s prediction that Forest would be relegated is now one of the most spectacular misses of the season.
Speaking ahead of the 24/25 campaign, Carragher tipped Nuno Espírito Santo’s side to drop back into the Championship, questioning whether Forest had the quality or squad depth to survive after narrowly avoiding relegation the previous year.
Instead, Forest have torn up the script. Espírito Santo’s men currently sit 3rd in the Premier League table, mathematically safe for several weeks, and dreaming of an improbable place in next season’s Champions League.
Key to their extraordinary rise has been the form of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Chris Wood and summer signing Nikola Milenkovic, whilst manager Nuno Espírito Santo has proven that his ill-fated spell at Tottenham was just a bump in the road of his career.
With trips to Tottenham and Crystal Palace still to come, and an FA Cup Semi-Final clash against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in-between, Forest’s run-in won’t be easy, but a place among Europe’s elite is within touching distance.
At the time of his prediction Carragher tipped Ipswich to survive the drop at the expense of Forest, saying “I think [Ipswich] might do enough. I think Nottingham Forest have been close every season and eventually the trap door opens.”
However, to his credit, has taken the criticism in good humour. When recapping his predictions recently on the SkySports YouTube channel, Carragher admitted “Nottingham Forest is the big one that I got wrong” before admitting “not doing his homework” when underestimating the quality of the Forest attacking options.
