Nottingham Forest are now mathematically safe from Premier League relegation after collecting a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon.

The worried City Ground masses would have had a lingering doubt in their heads whether their beloved Tricky Trees team would be up for this game, after crashing out of the Europa League horrifically 4-0 to Aston Villa in mid-week.

Thankfully, just days on from that sobering semi-final defeat, Forest battled hard to collect a share of the points, with West Ham United's controversial 1-0 loss to Arsenal later in the day officially confirming the Midlands side's Premier League status for another campaign.

Elliot Anderson stood out once more for Vitor Pereira's men in the back-and-forth draw, with the energetic number eight's leveller perhaps the perfect parting gift, if he were to make the move away from the City Ground in the summer transfer market.

Anderson's impressive performance vs Newcastle

The icing on top of the cake for Anderson would be the fact that this late 88th minute equaliser was collected against his former employers who rashly discarded him to Forest in 2024 for only £35m.

Now, the England international is regularly discussed as being a £100m asset, with Arsenal, Manchester United, and Manchester City consistently tipped to make a move for the well-rounded 23-year-old.

Anderson shone brightly for the hosts, away from just his equalising strike emphatically beating Nick Pope, as he also won five duels and completed 59 accurate passes as a presence who always makes Forest tick from the middle of the park.

He would be a monumental loss to deal with in the summer, but until then, everyone with Forest connections will be expecting the tenacious number eight to keep battling away relentlessly - as he very rarely lets his performance levels dip - even with his team now mathematically safe.

Anderson saving the day would spare the blushes of one of Forest's wasteful attackers, however.

Nottingham Forest's biggest underperformer vs Newcastle

Truthfully, Forest weren't fully at the races against Eddie Howe's Toon on Sunday afternoon, especially in the forward areas. But, when there is a will, there is a way, and the Tricky Trees just snuck over the line to a share of the spoils.

This shouldn't excuse the poor performances from the likes of Taiwo Awoniyi leading the line for the hosts, though, with the one-time Union Berlin striker only winning three out of his nine duels during the game, alongside registering just one meagre effort at the away side's goal.

Alongside the Nigerian marksman putting in a dire individual display, Igor Jesus also put in an unconvincing display in front of goal, despite bagging three goals across Forest's last five games, before doing battle with the Magpies.

Indeed, the Brazilian attacker would fail to find the back of the net from four shots at Pope's goal, before Anderson thankfully came to his wasteful team's rescue, as the number 19 - who had fired home seven Europa League goals from eight outings in the competition - was uncharacteristically careless.

The former Botafogo forward further shirked going in for duels and rolling his sleeves up, when he usually likes throwing himself into contests, with only 23% of his duels successfully won.

With the Premier League campaign now wrapped up for the Midlands titans, Pereira might be tempted to drop Jesus for the trip to Old Trafford, as he did very little to convince the ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers manager to keep him in his starting XI, when assessing his drab performance on Sunday afternoon.

Anderson will definitely be kept in his lineup, on the contrary, with the 23-year-old gifted the chance to strut his stuff against a team he might well call home next campaign, in the Red Devils.