Nottingham Forest cruised past Malmo in the Europa League to strengthen their grip on a play-off place, earning a comfortable victory in a repeat of the 1979 European Cup final.
Goals from captain Ryan Yates, Arnaud Kalimuendo and Nikola Milenkovic sealed Forest’s third straight win — their longest streak since the start of the year, after last season’s dip cost them a Champions League spot.
Sean Dyche’s side are now just two points off the top eight, which guarantees automatic progression to the last 16, with three group games remaining.
“The mentality we’re trying to build here is one game at a time,” said Dyche. “If you take care of results, things look after themselves. We’ve laid down some really good internal markers of what this group should expect from themselves. It’s important you get rewards — and the reward is winning games.”
Dyche has steadied the club following the dismissal of Nuno Espirito Santo after disputes with senior figures, and after Ange Postecoglou’s brief 39-day tenure. Saturday’s 3-0 win at struggling Liverpool lifted Forest out of the Premier League relegation zone, while this win pushed them to 16th in the Europa League standings, firmly in the play-off mix.
Forest dominated from the outset, even before Yates’ composed first-half strike. Kalimuendo, lively throughout, got his first goal since joining from Rennes for £26m, following up after Yates’ header was saved.
Milenkovic made it 3-0 shortly after the restart, and Callum Hudson-Odoi struck the bar as Forest threatened to run away with the contest.
“Overall, very pleased,” added Dyche, who made seven changes. “I spoke to the group about squad mentality — it’s going to be vital with how congested the fixture list is. It was important for some to get through the full game. Ideally, you get fit for the task, not use the task to get fit — but these matches help when we can use them for the full 90 minutes.”
