Nottingham Forest are nearing the end of a brilliant campaign that has seen the team return to European football for the first time in 30 years.
Nuno Espirito Santo has been linked with the Forest exit, but he deserves to stay and take charge of this team as they enter a European competition during the 2025/26 campaign.
Forest defeated West Ham 2-1 on Sunday to bounce back from a drab draw against Leicester City the previous week, and now it’s all to play for against Chelsea at the weekend.
Morgan Gibbs-White is attracting interest from Manchester City, and he bagged the first of the two goals scored by Forest in the huge win at the London Stadium.
Nikola Milenkovic scored the second goal following a VAR check that Jamie Carragher called farcical and he’s received some praise from an unlikely source.
Photo by Jon Hobley | MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Photo by Jon Hobley | MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Troy Deeney heaps praise on Forest star Nikola Milenkovic
It’s been quite the season for the big Serbian defender following his arrival from Fiorentina for a fee of just £12 million.
On Sunday, he bagged his fifth goal of the campaign, and his form in both boxes has been dynamite for the entire campaign as Forest look to achieve the unthinkable and make the Champions League.
Milenkovic was named in the Team of the Week by Deeney on the BBC Sport website and he’s made quite the claim about the uncompromising centre-back.
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He said: “The big Serb has arguably been the best centre-half in the Premier League this season. A big shout, but he has been really good and scored a big goal in a must-win game for Forest at West Ham. Excellent.”
Nikola Milenkovic stats 2024/25
Milenkovic has the best success rate of any Premier League player to contest over 100 duels during the current Premier League season, and that is some going for a star in his maiden season in England.
The 27-year-old has this season contested 218 duels, winning 152 of them with a success rate of 70%.
Nikola Milenkovic stats 2024/25 Total
Appearances 36
Goals 5
Aerials Won 139
Clearances 202
His partnership with Murillo has been brilliant to watch and right now, both players will surely be in contention to win the club’s annual Player of the Season accolade.
It’s always nice for Forest players to get recognised in these selections and Milenkovic is a stunning feather in the cap of the recruitment team, who will be looking to create more magic once this season is over.