Abdoulaye Doucoure’s last-minute winner for Everton dealt a big blow to Nottingham Forest’s Champions League hopes.
Nigeria internationals Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi did not feature due to injuries.
Forest already looked like having a disappointing day as they were being held by David Moyes’ side.
But it got even worse in the fourth minute of time added on when Doucoure scored on the counter-attack to earn his side a 1-0 victory at the City Ground.
It was as much as they deserved as they were the better team and sees them win for the first time since mid-February.
Forest could have edged closer to guaranteeing their position in the Premier League top five, but the signs suggest they are getting nervy with the finish line in sight.
They followed up last week’s 2-1 loss at Aston Villa with a first home defeat since November.
A point could have ended up being a good result, given the level of their display, but with Manchester City and Aston Villa winning and Chelsea and Newcastle able to make up ground on Sunday, their cushion to sixth place could be cut to just three points by the end of the weekend.
At the AMEX, Wilfred Ndidi played as Leicester ended their losing streak with a 2-2 draw against Brighton and Hove Albion.
Ndidi was in the starting line-up before gping off in the 61st minute.
Despite the draw the Foxes remain in the relegation zone in 19th place on 18 points.
At St. Mary’s already relegated Southampton suffered a 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
Paul Onuachu featured from the start before being replaced on 46 minutes while Joe Aribo was benched.
