Sunday’s visit of Burnley remains key to Premier League safety with Forest having navigated three of their potentially season-defining games in the past seven days.

Pereira showed his hand both in his team selection and post-match comments after the first leg draw at Porto last week.

A much-changed side, including young defender Zach Abbott, Morato and Chris Wood’s first appearance for six months after injury, underlined where the priorities were.

Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Aston Villa, when Portuguese manager Pereira made nine changes to return to his strongest Premier League side, justified the minor gamble in Porto.

“The club said to me the priority is to keep the club in in the Premier League,” said the former Wolves boss after the game in Portugal. “I agree. For the supporters, for everybody, for the club, for everybody. It’s a disaster if we go to the Championship.

“We are competing with West Ham, Tottenham and Leeds and it’s not easy to compete with these kind of clubs.

“If we are not in the Premier League, it will be a disaster and this is a disaster I don’t want to have responsibility for.

“Of course, I want to win [the Europa League]. I had it as an assistant coach. We won the Europa League [with Porto in 2011] but I want to win it as a head coach.

“I want to keep my club in Premier League and to fight to achieve the final.”