Forest eight points clear of relegation zone after 5-0 rout of Sunderland

 (Reuters) - Nottingham Forest cranked up the pressure on their relegation rivals by thrashing Sunderland 5-0 in the Premier ‌League on Friday, moving eight points clear of the drop zone.

Trai Hume's 17th‑minute own goal opened the floodgates, with Chris Wood, Morgan Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus all finding the net in a six-minute first-half burst at the Stadium of Light. Elliot Anderson capped off the win with ​a goal in stoppage time.

The victory gave Vitor Pereira's 16th-placed Forest -- who are unbeaten in six successive league ​games -- 39 points with four games to play. It puts more pressure on West Ham United, who are ⁠17th on 33 points, and Tottenham Hotspur, who are 18th on 31 points. Both West Ham and Spurs play this ​weekend.

Compounding Sunderland's misery, Dan Ballard's second-half goal was chalked off after VAR determined that Nordi Mukiele tripped goalkeeper Matz Sels.

Forest's goalkeeper ​preserved the clean sheet with a terrific late save, stretching to tip Enzo Le Fee's blistering close-range strike over the bar.

The game was end-to-end in the opening minutes with decent chances for both sides before Forest broke the deadlock when Omari Hutchinson floated a ball from a ​corner to the far post for Igor Jesus to head towards goal. The ball pinged off the head of Hume ​on the way in for an own goal.

Wood struck in the 31st minute when Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs inexplicably passed the ball straight ‌into ⁠his path. The ball bounced off the striker and fell to Gibbs-White, who drew Roefs out of his net before passing it back to Wood to slot home.

Gibbs-White added a goal of his own three minutes later when a ball to the back post found Jesus who headed it down for the midfielder, who unleashed a powerful shot into the bottom corner.

Jesus ​had the visiting fans in ​raptures when he knocked the ⁠ball into the far corner three minutes later, the ball glancing off Roef's outstretched arm on the way in. Sunderland, who conceded four goals in a 4-3 loss to Aston Villa ​on Sunday, were booed off the pitch at the break.

Forest's victory comes five days ​after they scored ⁠four second-half goals to beat Burnley 4-1.

"It's quite special," Gibbs-White told Sky Sports. "I didn't think we could top the other day, but we go and do it. I think that's just credit to the boys, and shows the character in the dressing room and ⁠the ​belief and the confidence that we have right now going into games."

Anderson had ​missed Forest's Europa League quarter-final win over Porto earlier this month after the death of his mother Helen.

"Just really happy to score here and I ​just know that my mum would have been really proud of that one," he said.