Nottingham Forest are locked in a tense fight to avoid relegation to the Championship under new head coach Vitor Pereira this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Portuguese tactician is the third manager to take charge at the City Ground during the 2025\/26 campaign, following spells under Sean Dyche, Ange Postecoglou, and Nuno Espirito Santo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pereira made an immediate impact before the international break, guiding Forest to an impressive 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, lifting the side three points clear of West Ham United, who currently occupy the final relegation spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While survival in the Premier League remains the priority over the final seven games, attention is also beginning to shift toward plans for the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If Forest manage to stay up, one major decision will revolve around their attacking options\u2014particularly whether Igor Jesus should continue as the club\u2019s first-choice striker heading into the 2026\/27 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to Chris Wood\u2019s ongoing injury problems, the Brazilian forward has led the line for much of the season, starting 22 of his 30 league appearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the 25-year-old has struggled to make a meaningful impact in front of goal. In those 30 outings, he has scored just three times from an expected goals (xG) total of 4.66\u2014averaging a goal every ten matches and underperforming his xG by nearly two goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His lack of clinical finishing and inconsistent attacking threat have raised doubts about his suitability as the team\u2019s main striker going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rather than dipping into the transfer market, Forest may already have a solution within their ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arnaud Kalimuendo, who joined from Stade Rennes for \u00a326 million last summer, had limited opportunities under previous managers, making just nine substitute appearances in the league and playing only 106 minutes in total. He did, however, net twice in four Europa League matches before being loaned out to Eintracht Frankfurt in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since arriving in Germany, the French striker has impressed, scoring five goals from 3.07 xG in 13 Bundesliga appearances\u2014surpassing Jesus\u2019 Premier League tally in just a few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His strong form on loan could position him as a viable alternative to lead the line next season, giving Pereira a ready-made option without the need for a new signing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pereira Could Axe Igor Jesus and Turn to Forgotten Nottingham Forest Outcast as His Replacement\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[222],"class_list":{"0":"post-5209","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-nottingham-forest"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/171097.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5211,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5209\/revisions\/5211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legitsportnews.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}