Nottingham Forest were beaten 1-0 by Everton at the City Ground as a nine-match unbeaten stretch at home came to an abrupt end.
The Toffees were well worth their victory in Nottingham.
David Moyes has overseen just two defeats in 13 matches since taking over Everton are a completely different animal these days.
Nuno Espirito Santo was left with more questions than answers as the Forest season threatened to burst at the seams.
The Reds remain in third place, but this is a serious setback, with Manchester City and Aston Villa both claiming big wins on Saturday.
Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty ImagesMicah Richards shares why Forest struggled vs Everton
Based on what Forest have been doing so far this season, this was a does of reality for the Reds.
It was a stark reminder that remaining in the mix for a Champions League place is simply difficult and there really is no shame in that.
Forest have already overachieved this season and on this showing, the Reds have a lot of work still to do in order to get into Europe.
Richards was summarising the game for Match of the Day and he thinks he knows why Forest struggled so much against Everton.
He said: “Anthony Elanga didn’t start, they didn’t have that electric pace from the off and that really impacted their performance.”
Anthony Elanga stats vs Everton
The 22-year-old didn’t really adapt to the role of substitute, making an impact and was largely frustrated throughout the game.
However, everything is not lost, and Forest needs to dust itself down and try to get back to winning against Tottenham next weekend.
Elanga is clearly a very important player in this team and hopefully, he can be a starter when the Reds meet Spurs in eight days.
Forest were largely poor against Everton and had it finished 0-0 it probably would have been unjust towards the Toffees who were brilliant throughout the clash.
Perhaps in hindsight Espirito Santo made a mistake over the player and should have started him and then taken him off rather than bringing him off the bench.