Reports of Nottingham Forest’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. After a five-goal defeat at Bournemouth last weekend, they bounced back with a thrashing of their own, downing a dismal Brighton 7-0 as Chris Wood fired a hat-trick against his former club. A Lewis Dunk own goal and headers from Morgan Gibbs-White and Wood put Forest out of sight in the first half. The New Zealander netted his 16th and 17th of the season after the break before Neco Williams and Jota Silva added to the tally as the hosts moved level with second-placed Arsenal. Supposedly, the sign of a great team is how they deal with adversity and Forest proved they are not a fragile side. “A fantastic day, what more can you ask?” Nuno Espírito Santo said. “The response of the players was beyond our expectations. All the team was ruthless in their desire because they wanted to show their talent.” Nuno reacted to the mauling at Bournemouth by selecting a back five to make his team more compact but the real difference was in the final third, where Forest’s vibrancy returned. One welcome change for Forest was the return to the starting lineup of Danilo, who has been absent in the Premier League since breaking an ankle in August. When Forest took the lead, it was the Brazilian who picked up a loose ball and found Gibbs-White drifting on the right flank. The mercurial midfielder collected the pass and darted for the box, before sending in a low cross which Dunk’s outstretched leg diverted into the bottom corner to complete another fine counterattack goal, which Forest are making their trademark. It was the seventh own goal of the Brighton captain’s Premier League career, behind only Richard Dunne on the unwanted list. Brighton, as expected, had the vast majority of possession as they tried – and failed – to find gaps in a far more disciplined Forest defence than the one that had visited the south coast seven days earlier. The brightest thing Brighton had on show was their all-yellow kit. Whenever Forest made it past the halfway line Brighton were in trouble. Anthony Elanga and Wood went close to doubling the lead. In the end Gibbs-White scored in surprising fashion with a flicked header at the near post from a perfect Elanga corner. It was beginning to look like the Bournemouth shellacking was a blip rather than the start of a tumble down the table for Forest. There was rarely a reason for Forest fans to sit down. Gibbs-White started another move, finding Ola Aina, who in turn picked out Elanga, allowing him to find Wood in the middle to nod home at the back post. The closest the City Ground came to calm was during the needlessly lengthy VAR check to determine Wood was half a yard onside. Fabian Hürzeler made a triple change at the break, a potential admission of his own errors, but it failed to break the cycle as Forest continued to bide their time on the break. The Brighton head coach needs to take plenty of the blame for his minimalist approach in midfield because his team could not cope in the transition when they lost possession. He must not have realised that Forest’s strategy is based on playing on the counter. “We have to apologise for this result to our supporters,” Hürzeler said. “They spend a lot of time and money supporting us. In the end it is a thing of togetherness and we all were not at the highest together. We need to look at ourselves in the mirror and say that’s not how we wanted to play football.” Elanga completed his hat-trick of assists by bursting down the right, beyond the collapsing yellow wall, before sliding a pass for Wood to tap into an open net. And the striker soon had a third from the spot after Simon Hooper adjudged Tariq Lamptey to be holding Gibbs-White in the box. Wood deservedly received a standing ovation when replaced by Taiwo Awoniyi. The substitute burst into the area to help create the sixth for Williams, who thumped in from close range to add to the delirium in the stands, enhanced by Silva’s seventh. Chants of “We want eight” followed and Forest had chances to achieve the fans’ demands. If the City Ground needed a lift, this club-record Premier League win provided it and more.