Nottingham Forest produced a stunning first-half display to beat Sunderland 5-0 at the Stadium of Light, moving eight points clear of the relegation zone. Manager Vitor Pereira hailed his team's 'Champions League level' performance as they extended their unbeaten league run to six games.
Dominant first half
Forest blew the Black Cats away with four goals in a remarkable first half. The opener came from Igor Jesus, whose header went in off the back of Sunderland defender Trai Hume. Chris Wood then capitalised on a goalkeeper error from Robin Roefs to double the lead. Morgan Gibbs-White added a third with a sweet strike, and Jesus scored again before the break to put the game beyond doubt. Elliot Anderson added a fifth late on to complete the rout.
Pereira's challenge
Pereira said: 'I asked my team to play at the level of Champions League because the Premier League is our Champions League. To win at this stadium against Sunderland – they are 10 points above us – it means that we had to play at our best level, and in my opinion, the first half was full, tactically, mentally, pressing, creating a lot of problems from set-plays, scoring goals, conceding nothing.'
Despite the convincing win, Pereira refused to consider his side safe with four games remaining. He said: 'In my opinion, it isn't enough, it isn't enough, it isn't enough. We need more points and we need to keep our mentality. We cannot relax.'
Sunderland's pain
Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris described the defeat as 'a punch in their face' for his players. He said: 'It hurts, it's painful because it's not the face we want to show. After that, you can't complain, you can't look for excuses, you just have to go forward, and in the second half, this was our ambition, at least fight, at least show that you have a strong energy, you are proud to be a Sunderland player.'
