Nottingham Forest ended the year on a high by beating toothless Everton to move up to second in the Premier League.

Nuno Espirito Santo's high-flying side are quickly turning into the story of the season with stellar showings that are threatening to disrupt the top-flight's elite.

With Arsenal not in action until Wednesday, victory at Goodison Park guaranteed finishing the day just a place behind leaders Liverpool, who thrashed West Ham 5-0 to move eight points clear.

Striker Chris Wood was involved in both of his side's goals, netting a delightful finish for his 11th league goal of a fruitful campaign, before feeding Morgan Gibbs-White for the captain to coolly convert in the second half.

New Zealander Wood had given the Everton defence a couple of warning signs when he fired a long-range volley wide and flicked a header over, but made no mistake when exchanging headers with Anthony Elanga before producing a lofted finish over the stranded Jordan Pickford.

At the other end, Armando Broja was given his first Toffees start and showed quick feet on the edge of the area but drilled wide, while Ramon Sosa should have doubled Forest's lead before half-time when played through, but the Paraguayan sent his shot the wrong side of the post.

Gibbs-White made sure of the points just after the hour mark, cutting inside and firing home to lift Forest up to being Liverpool's closest title challengers at the halfway stage.

Boss Nuno may not have been the universal choice as Steve Cooper's replacement just over a year ago, having enjoyed success at Midlands rivals Wolves.

But the Portuguese has performed an incredible job in his time at the club, lifting them from 17th in the table last December to battling among the league's best at the top end.

Forest have won five straight games and are unexpectedly sandwiched between Arne Slot's men and third-placed Arsenal, and though a title tilt may be a long shot, a top-four finish is not an unrealistic objective.

Forest have shown they are fine frontrunners, taking the lead in 15 of their 19 games so far this season, and Wood's wonderful finish shows his goalscoring form is not slowing down, while England international Gibbs-White struck shortly after scooping a presentable chance over.

The base of Forest's team is built on defensive solidity - conceding only 19 goals in as many games so far this campaign - and they are marshalled at the back by the towering Serbia international Nikola Milenkovic.

Such was the visitors' defensive robustness, Everton barely threatened and managed only two shots on target in the contest - Dominic Calvert-Lewin's tame header looping straight at Matz Sels in the 81st minute and fellow substitute Beto's effort being kept out by the Belgium goalkeeper late on.

Sean Dyche saw his side's four-game unbeaten run come to an end and they have won only three games all term, dropping down to 16th and only three points above the relegation zone.