Nottinghamshire

Pat Riddell
Fan writer

We asked our Nottingham Forest fan contributor for their four candidates for player of the season and you can now select your top one.

Matz Sels

There is no question that Sels is one of the Premier League's players of the season, let alone Forest's. Thirteen clean sheets in the league, multiple game-winning saves and three penalty shootouts have seen the 33-year-old Belgian become an essential part of the success this season.

Chris Wood

Wood became Forest's record goalscorer in the Premier League in December - sneaking ahead of Bryan Roy's 24 - and with 20 goals has had his best-ever season. His clinical finishing, way outperforming his expected goals and all-round game has made the New Zealand international indispensable to Nuno Espirito Santo's team.

Nikola Milenkovic

One of the Premier League's signings of last summer, Milenkovic has shored up a leaky defence - solving the club's set-piece problem in an instant and given Forest a platform this season that few could imagine. His centre-back partnership with Murillo is surely one of the league's best and there must be several clubs wondering why they didn't act sooner.

Morgan Gibbs-White

Forest's talisman earned his first England cap in September, having proved himself as one of the most talented midfielders in the country. The enigmatic number 10's drive, determination and pure, outrageous skill is the heartbeat of this Reds side, with seven goals and eight assists only half the story.

Honourable mention

Elliot Anderson. Slotted into Forest's midfield upon signing from Newcastle United last summer and has rarely been dropped since. The 'Geordie Maradona' has everything and is surely a future England star.

Pick your 2024-25 Forest player of the season from our shortlist here

And tell us why you're picking who you are, or why you'd have gone for another player not on the list, here

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Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo might leave the club at the end of this season because of internal tensions. (Footmercato - in French), external

Want more news? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

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Pat Riddell
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

And so Sunday has shaped up to be the showdown we were almost always expecting. For all Nottingham Forest's trials and tribulations this season, the last day of the season was never going to be a walk in the park.

It is, of course, a time for celebration. To go from the brink of relegation to the brink of the Champions League is an incredible achievement. European football is already guaranteed, yet three competitions remain within our grasp.

We are now dependent on other results going our way for the Champions League, but back in August everybody would have bitten your hand off for the choice of the Uefa Conference League or, if we win our final game against Chelsea, the Europa League.

This group of players have given everything to the cause, the manager has expertly guided and strategised along the way, and the club has backed and supported as best they can. Sometimes, and in Nottingham Forest's case very rarely, everything comes together just at the right time - a happy accident of recruitment or pure genius? Probably somewhere in between.

A team of often overlooked, occasionally forgotten about, even rejected players - and the manager himself fits that category - have come together to prove themselves, to prove that this great club still stands for something. For all the money that the Reds have spent since promotion three years ago, the core of our first XI cost little more than the £100m transfer fee Manchester City spent on Jack Grealish.

This season has been physically and mentally draining - for the fans as much as the players - and while FA Cup glory was a step too far, nobody should overlook the progress made in the past year. As the tattoo on owner Evangelos Marinakis's arm reads: Dream, Love, Create, Fight, Survive, Win. A battle call for Sunday if there ever was one.

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Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League match between West Ham and Nottingham Forest.

Here are some of your comments:

West Ham fans

Mark: Sack the board, manager and all the players - woeful display.

Steve: Same old West Ham, a season to forget. Too slow and negative in the build-up and really not got going after Forest scored their second goal. So much money spent on average players, aside from Wan-Bissaka, although there are a couple of hopeful names like Guilherme and Summerville who look promising.

Peter: Thank goodness the season is over and we can put it behind us, get a complete makeover and claw our way back to where we belong.

Forest fans

Callum: Nottingham Forest played well - we really needed that win! Here's hoping we can get a win next week against Chelsea at home, I look forward to being there at the world famous City Ground cheering them on! YOUUUUU REEEEDS!

Ben: It is a simple formula for Forest: score first, and you win. And so it proved. A dogged performance from them (despite a late wobble) gives us the final day showdown we were all hoping for. Now if one of the other contenders could play their part and lose then we can all finish the season happy!

John: Phew! When the second goal was finally confirmed that should have been it. But substitutions, indiscipline, VAR and a brilliant volley from Bowen made for a very nervy extra time but, Forest held on to do the double over a questionable West Ham. Too busy bringing their kids on beforehand after beating Manchester United to really get anywhere in this game.

Image source, Getty Images

Nottingham Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White says the team are ready to fight until the very end for a Champions League spot.

It is all to play for on the final day of the season when Forest host Chelsea, with the result deciding who could finish fifth.

"We've made it difficult for ourselves from where we were but we are going to fight until the end," said Gibbs-White. "We're at home, the City Ground is going to be rocking and we'll need the fans.

"We will plan this week how we're going to go into the game but we will be fighting."

Chelsea are one of three teams on 66 points, alongside Newcastle and Aston Villa, with Manchester City and Nottingham Forest on 65 points.

Five English sides will qualify for the Champions League through the league, up from the usual four, with an extra place secured because of positive results by Premier League clubs in Europe this season.

Chelsea know a win would be enough to secure qualification, but Forest need to beat the Blues and hope at least one team above them slips up if they are to grab a spot in Europe's elite competition.

Match of the Day 2 pundits have been having their say on the race for the Champions League.

Danny Murphy expects Newcastle to be "fine", adding: "At home to Everton, I would say so with those fans behind them.

"Manchester City have got it all in their own hands with that extra game. Bournemouth and Fulham - not easy games but I'd tip them as well.

"If you look around the dressing room and you look at the manager, they're just the best in their class. If they don't have the resilience and fortitude to get through those games then there is a real question mark. They should beat Bournemouth and Fulham nine out of 10 times when they need to."

"That Chelsea-Forest game next week is the pick of the bunch. That's going to be one hell of an atmosphere down there."

Martin Keown said: "I think Forest have been magnificent this year - a breath of fresh air to see how they've performed. It's looking tough for them right now. They just had a little blip at the wrong time but they can't have any regrets to the way they've played this season.

"I think Man City will have enough to get there and so will Aston Villa as well."

Which way will it go? Read more and hear from the managers

Highlights and analysis from Sunday's five Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to the weekend's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

Saturday 17th May

FA Cup final: Crystal Palace 1-0 Manchester City - 5 LIVE

Sunday 18th May

West Ham 1-2 Nottingham Forest - 5 LIVE

Brentford 2-3 Fulham – SPORTS EXTRA 2

Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle - 5 LIVE

Nottingham Forest are keen to tie down midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, 25, and winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, 24, to new contracts as soon as possible. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

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