It's time to start taking Nottingham Forest seriously - and to acknowledge what Nuno Espirito Santo is doing

You wouldn’t necessarily describe Nottingham Forest as “fun” so far this season – but then again, hardly anyone has been describing them as anything at all outside of Nottingham itself. Without a great deal in the way of discussion or fanfare or, frankly, credit, Nuno Espirito Santo has moulded his team into one of the toughest in the Premier League.

Their 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Sunday was their fourth such result in the top flight this season, but more notable is the fact that they have only been defeated once. They have taken draws away from Stamford Bridge and the Amex Stadium, and won quite superbly at Anfield, becoming the only team so far to get anything out of Arne Slot’s Liverpool in any competition.

As is often the case with such games, the post-match reportage focussed largely on the bigger club’s failings and gave Forest little more than patronising credit in the last paragraph or two. That’s life for the league’s less glamorous sides, of course, but it also means that we currently have a top-half team with one of the stingiest defences in the entire division who have hardly been mentioned in the media at large. It’s probably time to correct that mistake.

Of course, it’s also easy to shrug this Forest side off because if you only watch them once or twice, or catch the highlights and read the match stats without getting the full perspective, it’s easy to dismiss them as being a little lucky. After all, most of the numbers suggest that they’re getting dominated and scraping draws as much as earning them – only Everton have had less possession of the ball so far this season, for starters. If one only casts a glance at Forest’s form, it’s easy to put them down as defending deep, blocking low, eking out the odd point, and little more.

That, however, is rather unfair. In Forest’s case, conceding large quantities of possession and territory is a conscious decision – a plan, not a problem. Santo, a defensive coach at heart, has set up to play on the counter-attack and to make the most of his quick, tricky wingers to get quick ball forward and win set pieces. It’s working.

Chelsea may have enjoyed the vast majority of the ball on Sunday, but barely got more shots away and it’s Forest who tested the opposing goalkeeper more often. The home side had the better individual chances and can point to a rather higher xG (another statistic with which Forest can be dismissed but which only tells part of the story) but the saves into which Robert Sánchez was forced were at least as impressive as those which Matz Sels had to make. In other words, this was a much more even game than might be suspected at first look, and that’s been typical of the way Santo’s side have played.

In many ways, the plan is quite straightforward, but it also maximises the players Forest have at their disposal. A disciplined defence holds the opposition at bay while looking for chances to get the ball downfield to players like Morgan Gibbs-White and Anthony Elanga as directly as possible. Then, those attacking players’ mazy dribbling skills come into play – they take on their man and either beat them or win a free kick a particularly high percentage of the time. And when you win a lot of dead balls, having James Ward-Prowse in your team to take them and Chris Wood ready to nod them home makes everything quite a bit easier.

Forest have only scored seven goals in the league this season, but four of them have come from set-piece situations, including Wood’s opener this weekend, the most of any side in the Premier League so far. Ward-Prowse is not an especially strong all-round player and from open play he isn’t remarkably impactful, but he may be the best in England when standing over a dead ball. By emphasising set pieces while minimising the time the ball spends in midfield, Santo’s strategy plays up the strengths of Ward-Prowse while mitigating his weaknesses. That’s much the way it works across the board.

It's also worth noting that while Nottingham Forest spend a lot of time defending, they are also doing it very well. 18 teams have had more possession than them, but half the league have allowed more shots on goal – and only Liverpool have actually conceded fewer than Forest’s six. Santo’s low block is organised and seemingly rock solid.

The long and short of it is that Forest’s league position is no fluke and nor are the impressive results they’ve put up. They didn’t beat Liverpool because Slot’s side had an off day, they beat Liverpool because they were the better team. They didn’t scrape out a point at Stamford Bridge just because Cole Palmer’s double chance inflated their xG, they earned a point fair and square.

Forest aren’t the most thrilling team in the division, and they certainly aren’t the most attacking – but they may be among the most intelligently-managed right now. This is a manager setting his side up to get the best out of what his players are good at while minimising the time in which their weaknesses might be exposed. It’s also past time that they were treated with respect, and their results regarded not as anomalies but as a sign of positive progress.