Nottingham Forest is second after Chris Wood achieves victory against Everton | first division

Nuno was forced to make a late change of personnel and system when Murillo stopped with an adductor injury in the warm-up. The defender was replaced by winger Ramón Sosa, prompting a switch to 4-4-1-1, but the interruption had no discernible impact on Forest's display. The visitors once again performed with confidence and clarity befitting their impressive position in the league. And Wood once again represented a powerful and intelligent threat.

The New Zealand international had already gone close with two attempts, heading in Anthony Elanga's cross and firing wide from distance, before giving Forest the lead in style. “The goal was beautiful,” Nuno said.

Wood's 11th goal of the season came from a precise pass through the middle by Gibbs-White. The striker cushioned a header from Elanga, who headed again to Wood inside the area and scored two Everton defenders of the equation in the process. Wood allowed the ball to bounce and Jordan Pickford to advance before curling a delicate shot over the Everton goalkeeper and under the crossbar from 12 yards. It was the touch of a striker at the top of his game, and a lead that was rarely disturbed.

Everton had gained valuable points and believed in draws against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, but they are not creative. Armando Broja made his first start for the club in place of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and, like the centre-forward on the bench, had to look for spares all afternoon.

Iliman Ndiaye created a good early chance for himself by moving away from Nikola Milenkovic and Morato, only to fire from the edge of the area. Jarrad Branthwaite should also have done better with a free header from an Ashley Young corner shortly after the first goal but failed to connect cleanly. However, overall Dyche's team were short of ideas and sloppy in possession. They would have had more problems if James Tarkowski had received a second yellow card in first-half stoppage time for a foul on Wood. The Everton captain, in the absence of the injured Séamus Coleman, escaped further punishment. His team didn't. Dyche introduced Jesper Lindstrøm for Jack Harrison at half-time, but Forest remained sharper, more solid and more dangerous.

The visitors doubled their lead by taking advantage of a defensive mix-up between Tarkowski and Vitalii Mykolenko. The pair missed a pass from Abdoulaye Doucouré just outside the Everton area. Elanga took advantage of the miscommunication and found Wood. The goalscorer added an assist to his name by picking out Gibbs-White, who cut inside Doucouré and beat Pickford with a powerful finish.

“The second goal is a farce on our part,” Dyche said. “You can't give away goals like that, especially against a team in this state of form that has a reputation for being difficult to beat.

“It was very disappointing, especially because in the first half our players did the complete opposite of what we had asked of them. We didn't offer what was expected and Forest did the basics better than us in the first half. We wanted to play fast, advance the ball quickly and ask questions playing a tempo game. We did the complete opposite, passing him slowly from behind and without asking many questions, especially in the first half.”

Pickford made a triple save to prevent Sosa, Neco Williams and again Sosa from adding a third. He made an excellent double save in the final minute to deny Elanga and Taiwo Awoniyi from advancing towards the goal. Everton improved in the closing stages, the introductions of Calvert-Lewin, Beto and Nathan Patterson injecting some late-needed positivity into their game, but they could do nothing to stop Forest's rise.