Forest, without a major trophy since 1990, are third in the Premier League form table for their past six games – behind Manchester City and Brighton – having scored 15 goals, including Friday’s 5-0 thumping of Sunderland.
Nine of the goals have come in the past two games – comprehensive wins over Burnley and the Black Cats which should provide the platform for survival.
West Ham and Tottenham’s late winners on Saturday ensured there is still work to do in the run-in – and Pereira has underlined the Premier League is the priority – but there is an expectation that Forest will beat the drop.
Five points above third-bottom Tottenham with four games left, that breathing space could allow Forest to take the handbrake off against Villa and confidence has grown since Pereira arrived in February.
The players never bought into former boss Sean Dyche’s philosophy. When the Portuguese replaced him, he pinpointed two key issues – a lack of confidence in their own ability and a lack of identity on the pitch – although not really unexpected with three previous managers in a troubled season.
Pereira felt the first job was to restore confidence in the group – the majority who finished seventh in the league last season – and introduce a style which suited the squad’s qualities.
The players responded well, embraced the changes and met the high standards in training, which included music being played.
Pereira plays music – and allows the players to choose – in the final session before a game, which is something he has done at previous clubs.
He uses it during the warm-up with the aim to reduce tension and boost energy, allowing the players to go into the game with the right mindset.
Pereira likes his own music though, mostly from the 1980s, and would play it loudly to himself in his office at former club Wolves‘ Compton training ground.
He kept Wolves up last season, having taking over when they were in the bottom three before leaving in November, and wants to control games and tempo with possession.
The Portuguese likes a compact team, able to exploit the opposition. In the eight league games under him, Forest have conceded eight goals, with the fifth best defence in their last six.
In a clear picture of how the style has changed under Pereira, open-play crosses have dropped by 31% and deep crosses have gone down 29%, but shots from through-balls have gone up 31%.
They are now creating 30% more big chances under Pereira, who will take charge of his 50th European game, and converting 75% more of them.
The style change has also helped inspire Morgan Gibbs-White’s impressive form, with the 26-year-old scoring nine goals in 14 games since the former Porto and Fenerbahce boss arrived in February and boosting his outside chance of making England’s World Cup squad.
The midfielder’s hopes could be further enhanced if he helped Forest lift the Europa League next month, a competition which has been a target since the start of the season.
Their form in Europe underlines that too as Forest have accumulated the best xG (27.8) in the competition, having taken 414 touches in the opposition box in their 14 games, with 23 of their 88 shots on target finding the back of the net.
Only Serie A side Bologna, who were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Villa, beat Forest in each of those three categories, while striker Igor Jesus is the competition’s seven-goal joint top scorer.
