Anthony Elanga scored twice to help Nuno Espirito Santo mark his 50th Premier League game in charge of Nottingham Forest with a 4-2 win over Ipswich Town at Portman Road.

Three quickfire goals in six first-half minutes did the damage for Forest, whose victory saw them go within a point of second-placed Arsenal in the standings. 

Nikola Milenkovic put Forest ahead with a fierce finish from inside the box, capitalising on Liam Delap's poor header as Ipswich failed to clear their lines from a corner. 

The visitors doubled their advantage soon after when Anthony Elanga rounded off a lightning counter-attack with a superb left-footed finish into the bottom left-hand corner. 

Elanga grabbed his second before the break, profiting from some more slack defending to race on to Milenkovic's long punt forward to place the ball beyond Alex Palmer. 

Forest's solid defensive rearguard was eventually breached late on when Jens Cajuste neatly turned substitute Ryan Yates before curling a fine strike into the roof of the net. 

But Nuno's side restored their three-goal advantage five minutes later through Jota Silva, who finished after being fed inside the box by the industrious Morgan Gibbs-White.

The scoring, however, was not done there. Ipswich substitute George Hirst restored some pride for the Tractor Boys in second-half stoppage time with a well-taken header. 

The result moves Forest on to 54 points in third, while Ipswich stay in 18th, now nine points adrift of safety following Wolves' 2-1 victory over Southampton.

Data Debrief: Forest strengthen grip on top four finish

Nuno's appointment at the City Ground was met with raised eyebrows back in December 2023, but across the 51-year-old's half a century of Premier League games at the helm, the Portuguese has turned Forest from relegation strugglers to Champions League believers.

Indeed, Forest have won 54 points from their 29 Premier League games this season. In the competition's history, only four teams have failed to finish in the top five, having won as many points at this stage of the campaign, with those sides being Newcastle United in 1994-95, Liverpool in 2014-15 and Manchester United in 2016-17 and 2018-19 (all finishing 6th).

But their triumph was inspired by the electric Elanga, who netted his first ever Premier League brace on his 104th appearance. The Swede has had a hand in 13 goals in 29 top-flight games this season (five goals, eight assists), just one off his tally from 36 outings last campaign (14 – five goals, nine assists).

And Gibbs-White, recently left out of Thomas Tuchel's first England squad, also impressed. He registered his 40th Premier League goal involvement for Forest with his assist to Silva (15 goals, 25 assists), overtaking Bryan Roy (39), while only Ian Woan (44) has more combined goals and assists for the club in the competition.