Should Nottingham Forest start believing in Leicester-like miracles?

Anyone who predicted that Leicester City would win the Premier League at the start of the 2015-16 campaign would almost certainly have been laughed out of town on the grounds that they had entirely lost their grip on reality. In their pre-season predictions, the famously prescient Guardian football writer brains trust had them finishing 19th before a ball was kicked. Their struggles in the previous season had them rightly among the relegation favourites before they promptly romped home first past the post by an astonishing 10 points. Indeed, so surprising was their title win that even the handful of eccentrics who were prepared to admit to wagering actual money on them being crowned champions ended up bottling it and hedging their bets early doors, while the BBC’s woke snowflake-in-chief Gary Lineker was forced to renege on his promise to present Match of the Day in the buff if his beloved hometown team lifted the trophy and mercifully did it wearing only his strides instead.

As heroic an achievement as it was, Leicester’s preposterously implausible triumph was dismissed as an anomaly that could never conceivably happen again and it has not gone unnoticed that despite being in third place in the table on exactly the same number of points their bitter rivals had after 20 games of their miracle season, not a single pundit has been brave (or stupid) enough to suggest Nottingham Forest could repeat this most miraculous of feats just less than a decade on. There has been talk of European qualification, certainly … even suggestions Forest should dare to dream of qualification for the Bigger Cup they won in back-to-back seasons many moons ago. But despite being level on points with an Arsenal side many experts think are still in a shout of overtaking Liverpool to win the title, nobody is giving Forest a prayer. At least not out loud, for fear of being laughed out the gate.

“I don’t know, maybe the end of the season I’ll take a look,” said Nuno Espírito Santo, upon being asked if he’s been gazing lovingly at the league table where Forest currently occupy the exalted position of third after six wins on the spin, their latest a 3-0 victory at Wolves. “I promise you guys I will. We are trying to build something nice together. We have to enjoy the journey, nothing else matters. The table doesn’t matter. We just keep on going.”

While few are prepared to tout Forest as potential title-winners, concessions have been made and it does seem to have been decided that if they can beat Liverpool next time out in the league, they will officially be “in the title race”. With Arne Slot’s league leaders currently in an uncharacteristic slump following their failure to beat Manchester United, now seems as good a time as any for Forest to hammer home their title credentials by completing the league double over the Anfield outfit. For now, however, they can at least relax safe in the knowledge that they have avoided the relegation your soothsaying Football Daily predicted for them less than six months ago. Should they see off Liverpool, that title race clamour will begin in earnest and the first of those inevitably optimistic Hail Mary betting slips will begin to see the light of day.

Join Scott Murray from 8pm GMT for hot minute-by-minute coverage of Arsenal 2-1 Newcastle in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final.

They got a really fortuitous goal. You’re looking up to the heavens at that point. Every week on the road we seem to be getting hit and hit and hit. Things have gone against us recently. It just seems the footballing gods are against us. The results are not good enough. The players are giving everything, but we are in a results business” – Rob Edwards is shaking his fist at the clouds after Luton’s 2-1 reverse at QPR left them 20th in the Championship.

Is publishing yesterday’s solitary letter, from a long-time reader proposing that the secret to happiness is low expectations, indicative that the new year has brought some Tin-induced level of self-loathing in your parts?” – Bryan Paisley.

Now that Tottenham have signed a player who nearly shares a surname with Klaus Kinski, it might be worth Spurs fans reflecting on one of the actor’s greatest roles: a would-be conquistador starting out on a fantastical project, whose delusions of grandeur initially excite his followers, but eventually turn into terrible, dispiriting failure” – Charles Antaki.

Re: ‘too cold to snow?’ (yesterday’s last line, full email edition). Big Paper beat you to it by 14 years” – Alec Johns.

My grandma, who attended the first match at Highbury, used to say it was too cold to snow. She never explained this but if the sky is clear, the temperature will drop and it will not snow. She also used to say ‘there’s always money for drink’ as in some people’s priorities might not be right, ‘you won’t get to sleep if your feet are cold’ (also true) and, when presenting cold custard for pudding, ‘just like ice cream’! She enjoyed watching most sports and died at the age of 98” – John Meara.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Charles Antaki. Terms and conditions for our competitions – when we have them – can be viewed here.

It’s David Squires on … Thomas Tuchel’s thrilling start in the England job.

And hop on over to our Instachat channel, where you can find more from these beautiful photos of football goals taken from above.

In need of new year reading? Get yourselves over to the Big Website bookshop, where you’ll find a host of great tomes just waiting to be added to your online basket, including David’s latest collection of cartoons: Chaos in the Box.

Paul Scholes: bad at tackling, increasingly good at tackling issues. Zing! We’re here all email. But seriously, the former Manchester United great has given a withering assessment of Big Sir Jim and his Ineos hive minds after a series of “difficult and unpopular decisions” at Old Trafford, including controversial ticket prices, 250 staff redundancies, stadium defects and other cost-cutting measures such as the ending of Sir Alex Ferguson’s ambassadorial role. “£66 for a ticket is ridiculous,” Scholes yelped in The Overlap Fan Debate. “If you think of Manchester, there are so many deprived areas and [Big] Sir Jim Ratcliffe himself is from Failsworth, which is a deprived area. If you take one kid with you, that’s £120, if you take a family, you’re looking at £300-£400. It’s not right. They [Ineos Group] have been in charge for nearly a year now and everything is still negative. I can’t think of something positive that they’ve done. It just shows that they don’t care. How can you ask Manchester United fans to pay more money with what’s on the football pitch?”

The Zambia Women coach Bruce Mwape, who was accused of sexual misconduct at the 2023 World Cup, has been replaced but will remain part of the national team setup “in an advisory role”. Mwape denies intentionally touching the chest of an official and a player.

West Ham have asked Graham Potter to become their new manager despite not having shown Julen Lopetegui through the door marked Do One yet. Classy.

Tottenham’s beancounters have pushed the button to activate the one-year extension on Son Heung-min’s contract despite him having lost some of his superpowers in recent months. Meanwhile, Ange Postecoglou is wrestling with a knack-crisis before the Milk Cup semi-final first leg against Liverpool. “We’ll have roughly 10 first-team players missing,” he sighed. “That isn’t easy, we get one back and then lose a couple.”

Wolves forward Matheus Cunha’s offer to buy new specs for an Ipswich security guard he was involved in an altercation with helped convince an independent disciplinary panel to cut his ban from three matches to two.

Milan are keen on borrowing Marcus Rashford … but only if Manchester United stump up some of the out-of-form forward’s £365,000-a-week salary.

Bournemouth striker Evanilson faces a spell on the sidelines after snapping a metatarsal during their win over Everton.

Mat Sadler’s reward for a remarkable run in leading Walsall 10 points clear on top of League Two is a new contract until 2028. “It’s a very stable football club, which can’t be said about a lot in this country,” he whooped.

And Everton are hoping for some magic from Emma Watson, after taking the forward on loan from Hogwarts Manchester United for the rest of the season.

Andy Hunter meets the fans putting their rivalries aside to campaign against the “absolute disgrace” of ticket prices, with some claiming costs have risen 800% since 1990.

And then there were four: the Fizzy Cup semi-finals are upon us, so here is Ben McAleer’s preview on the first leg between Arsenal and Newcastle, plus Tottenham v Liverpool. Louise Taylor, meanwhile, breaks down why this competition is so important for Newcastle (spoiler: something to do with the club’s trophy cabinet).

Here’s Jonathan Wilson on Liverpool’s holiday wobble (say that five times fast) and why it might not matter.

Milan are back, baby (sort of, they’re still eighth in Serie A). Sérgio Conceição is now at the wheel and there are cigars, hugs and minor silverware for everyone. Nicky Bandini has more.

And rumours! Get ya rumours! Niclas Füllkrug will surely be pleased with the latest whispers.

To Bramall Lane in January 2003 and the first leg of the Milk Cup semi between Sheffield United and Liverpool, where Michael Tonge fires home the first of his second-half double to cap a 2-1 comeback win. The Blades would come up just short of the final, though, beaten 2-0 at Anfield in the second leg.