Vitor Pereira makes 'Champions League' point after huge Nottingham Forest win

The Reds moved eight points clear of the Premier League relegation zone with four games remaining courtesy of their huge win at the Stadium of Light. A Trai Hume own goal and efforts from Chris Wood, Morgan Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus had put the visitors in dreamland before the break, then Elliot Anderson put the icing on the cake in second-half added time.

Forest are now on 39 points and have piled the pressure on relegation rivals West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur, who both play on Saturday. Pereira is not prepared to relax just yet in the battle for survival, but he was delighted with his players’ efforts and has pledged to give them an additional day off.

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“In my opinion, it isn’t enough,” the Portuguese said of the Reds’ points tally. “We need more points and we need to keep our mentality. We cannot relax.

“Our Champions League is the Premier League. To play the games that we have to play, we need to play at a Champions League level. We need to prove that we deserve to be in the Premier League next season.

“I asked my team to play in the level of the Champions League, because the Premier League is our Champions League. I said to them, to win in this stadium against Sunderland who are 10 points above us, means we need to play at our best level.

“In the final minutes, it was about being compact and defending. We finished the game with one more goal and we didn’t concede - in this moment, that is very important for us.

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“We are in a moment where mentally and tactically we are strong. We don’t have fear.

“I told the players we didn’t have anything to lose today, just to win. But we needed to go there and be very competitive against a very strong team. In the end, we deserved the result.

“I tried to be calm but in the end I am very happy with the team. That is why I have given them two days off, not one day.

“It is difficult to imagine 5-0. But to be honest, we didn’t come here to draw the game, we came to get three points. We did everything.”