If Nottingham Forest had drawn then they would have played in the UEL next season because they have a better goal difference than Aston Villa. But Chelsea are not an opponent they can beat easily. What Nottingham Forest have done this season is really amazing. Yes they managed to be in third place in the standings for a long time but they have a number of points that are not much different from the teams below them. Forest have also performed very badly in their last 5 games with only 1 win, 2 draws and 2 losses. Fans are certainly disappointed but this is not City, Arsenal or Liverpool. Nottingham Forest are the underdogs and it would be a miracle if they managed to qualify for European competition. I think this result is very good for them. Yes they can try to fight harder next season.
Ending the season in seventh place in the Premier League standings is not a bad thing for a team like Nottingham Forest because they can still fight in the Conference League like Chelsea did this season and it would also be very good for Nottingham Forest if they were able to become champions in the Conference League next season. But I also hope Nottingham Forest can be more consistent next season so they can compete again in the Champions League zone next season. Because since the beginning of this season, Nottingham Forest's performance has also looked quite extraordinary.
Perhaps the Conference League will be a better solution for Nottingham than the Europa League and Champions League.
Nottingham have too short bench and no top level players, except Wood, to compete in the Champions League.
The competition in the Europa league is less than in the champions league and in the final played 2 teams from the EPL ranked 14th and 17th , so Nottingham could fight to win the europa league.
In the conference league Nottingham will be one of the favorites and I think the chances of winning the conference league are the highest, besides for participation in the conference league it is not necessary to buy expensive players, the squad that Nottingham have now will be enough.