After Dejan Kulusevski thumped in Tottenham’s second goal, the killer blow for Nottingham Forest, Steve Cooper swivelled on his feet, dragged his fingers down his cheeks and retreated towards the home dugout. Quite how many more times he will be able to call this place home depends on how dimly the Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, views this latest defeat, a fifth in the past six matches. By the time a reinvigorated Bournemouth depart the City Ground on 23 December Forest could, if results do not go their way, find themselves in the relegation zone.
Forest have won one of their past 13 matches and Cooper is on increasingly rocky terrain. Spurs may have finished this game with 10 men, Yves Bissouma seeing red for a crude takedown of Ryan Yates with 20 minutes of normal time to play, but goals from Richarlison and Kulusevski ensured successive victories for Ange Postecoglou’s side. The last time Richarlison managed back-to-back league goals, his manager was Frank Lampard and he counted Mason Holgate, Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli among his Everton teammates.