Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper believes his side are heading in the right direction despite their trip to Crystal Palace ending in a “disappointing” goalless draw.
Cooper’s men had their chances at Selhurst Park, where Morgan Gibbs-White saw a shot come back off a post and a sprightly Murillo was denied more than once by Eagles goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.
In the end, it was a closer result than some had perhaps expected from a Palace squad that, already mired in an injury crisis, saw both Jeffrey Schlupp and Jairo Riedewald forced off either side of half-time.
Cooper said: “We’re definitely the team that, if anyone deserved to win it was us. That was clear, with the chances in the game, so there’s a little feeling of disappointment in the dressing room for sure, but also knowing that performances and results like this last year were so hard to come by.
“So the fact that we looked like that tonight and the way we have played means that beyond the small disappointment of not winning, we see a team that’s growing and hopefully on an upward trajectory.
“I have to bear that in mind. We want to be winning games, especially when we have chances like we did tonight, how we played in the first half and how we ended the game.
“But I think we’ve also got to respect that we kept a clean sheet, and for us to play like that I think is something that overall will be a real positive.”
Roy Hodgson, who managed his 400th Premier League contest on Saturday, admitted he has rarely, if ever, experienced an injury crisis quite like the one plaguing the Eagles.
Having already been forced to make three changes to his line-up from Palace’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United due to injuries to Eberechi Eze, Joel Ward and Cheick Doucoure, the 76-year-old was forced into two more on Saturday evening.
As Schlupp hobbled off the pitch, Hodgson elected to bring on 21-year-old Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, who before the Forest encounter had played just nine Premier League minutes for Palace.
Rak-Sakyi, who had a disappointing Carabao Cup outing at Old Trafford last week, was a silver lining for Palace and received a warm reception from the home support after he delivered dangerous crosses into the area and tried twice to hand his side an opener.
Ultimately neither side could take advantage of what few chances they had created, but the Palace boss was full of praise for his young substitute, who returned from a loan spell at Charlton at the end of last season.
Hodgson, who compared Rak-Sakyi to the injured Michael Olise, said: “I was delighted for him. There were a lot of clubs interested in taking him again.
“I had to fight with him a little bit to persuade him that if he really wants to be a Premier League player he is in the best place and chances will come, and today he got that chance and I think he took it extremely well.
“He didn’t just do well on the ball, he also did his defensive work. Of course when you’ve got wingers, talented wingers, that is one of the things you ask questions about: is he going to be good on the ball for those few moments he’s got it, but also what is he going to be like when we’re working hard to stop them doing something with it?”
Postecoglou: Spurs have a confidence problem to overcome
Ange Postecoglou says that Tottenham need to "overcome" their low confidence after suffering a 4-2 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.
Spurs slipped to their fourth consecutive Premier League defeat, being left to bemoan their slow start as they found themselves 4-0 down by the hour mark thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott.
Richarlison came off the bench to salvage some pride for Spurs, scoring one before setting up Son Heung-min for a goal on his 300th Premier League appearance.
Spurs had the opportunity to cut the gap to the top four after Aston Villa’s defeat to Brighton, but they remain seven points off a Champions League spot.
Postecoglou’s side still have a game in hand over the Villans, though he was sure that Spurs would be able to put their recent poor run behind them.
Asked if Spurs had a confidence problem, Postecoglou told Sky Sports: "Maybe in the front third there is.
"It probably is a bit of a lack of confidence, but again, that's something the guys have to work through.
"You have to find a way to overcome that because, ultimately, if you don't put pressure on the opposition in the front third after you've worked your way up there, they're going to get comfortable with their position."
Spurs have won just one of their last nine Premier League away games, failing to win any of the last five.
Despite that run extending at Anfield, Postecoglou highlighted what he thought was an improvement on their recent performances.
He continued: "Obviously a hugely disappointing outcome for us but at least we were more like ourselves today in terms of our football.
"Our last two away games at Newcastle and Chelsea, apart from the results which weren't great either, we just didn't try and play our football.
"I thought today, even in the first half, some of our football, our pressing was back to where it should be."
Roma 1-1 Juventus: Juve miss chance to close gap to second after draw with Roma
Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw at Roma on Sunday, missing the chance to close in on Milan in second place in Serie A.
Roma took the lead after 15 minutes when Romelu Lukaku found himself in the perfect position to tap in the rebound from a Bryan Cristante shot.
Bremer levelled with a header for Juventus just after the half-hour mark when Federico Chiesa picked him out inside the box from a corner.
Both sides had chances to find a winner in the final minutes, with Roma keeper Mile Svilar making a fingertip save to push Manuel Locatelli's volley over the bar.
Third-placed Juventus have 66 points, five fewer than Milan, who drew 3-3 with Genoa earlier on Sunday. Roma are fifth with 60 points.
Data Debrief: Leading from the back
Since scoring his first Serie A goal in the 2019-20 season, Bremer is the defender with the most headed goals in the Big-5 European leagues, netting 13 in total. Each of his last seven goals have been headers.
His goal was enough to earn Juventus a point today, but it means that they have drawn each of their last four in the competition - a first since February-March 2012 under Antonio Conte.
Chelsea 8-0 Bristol City: Blues rout hands Hayes perfect home send off
Guro Reiten starred as Chelsea thrashed already-relegated Bristol City 8-0 to keep their title hopes alive in the Women's Super League on Sunday.
The Norwegian scored four goals, netting the opener from the penalty spot to get Emma Hayes' last home game in charge off to the best start.
She scored the other three in the second half in just over 20 minutes, while teeing up Agnes Beever-Jones for the seventh goal with just two minutes left.
Beever-Jones got two, with Sjoeke Nusken and Niamh Charles also adding to the scoreline to eradicate the goal-difference advantage that Manchester City, who lost to Arsenal earlier on Sunday, had over them.
Chelsea move to within three points of the Citizens, with a game in hand over them, remaining in the fight to lift their fifth-consecutive league title.
Data Debrief:
Chelsea have scored eight goals in a game for the first time since December 2022 against Leicester City, a match they also won 8-0.
The Blues have scored in their last six games in the WSL, though it does not come close to their longest run of games with a goal in the competition - a run of 20 from April 2023 to February 2024.
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