It is impossible to avoid the sense that something special is stirring on the Trent. Nottingham Forest averted a late scare to dispatch the bottom club Southampton to move level on points with second-placed Arsenal and extend their unbeaten run to eight Premier League matches.

Forest were rampant, roaring into a 3-0 lead inside 41 minutes before the visitors pulled a goal back, via an unknowing Jan Bednarek, and then Paul Onuachu headed in from a corner early in second-half stoppage time to tee up an unlikely grandstand finish. Ola Aina then cleared a Bednarek header off the line from another corner.