Nottingham Forest’s Cinderella story of a season continues to captivate as they dispatched bottom-dwelling Southampton 3-2 at the City Ground to extend their Premier League unbeaten run to eight matches. The victory, inspired by Elliot Anderson’s first goal for the club, sees Forest draw level on points with second-place Arsenal in a campaign that is rapidly becoming the stuff of legend on the banks of the River Trent.
Southampton, in stark contrast, look a side destined for the drop. Five straight defeats to begin the Ivan Juric era have left Saints staring into the abyss, with the very real possibility of setting new records for futility. Only a late rally to make the scoreline more respectable prevented this from being an even more chastening outing.
Forest Flying High as Anderson Opens Account
It took just 11 minutes for Nottingham Forest to assert their authority as 20-year-old Anderson, the highly-touted youngster on loan from Newcastle, opened his account in the Garibaldi red. Morgan Gibbs-White’s clever flick released the midfielder, who drove forward unchallenged before firing low past a helpless Aaron Ramsdale for a lead Forest would never relinquish.
Shell-shocked Southampton had no response. Callum Hudson-Odoi took full advantage of comedy defending to double the advantage before Chris Wood’s thumping header from an Ola Aina cross made it three before the interval. The Saints were in shambles, Juric beside himself on the touchline as his tenure threatens to be over before it’s barely begun.
Too Little Too Late for Sorry Saints
To their credit, the visitors made a fist of it late on. The lively Lesley Ugochukwu saw his speculative effort deflect off the unfortunate Jan Bednarek to reduce the arrears on the hour mark. Bednarek then saw a header cleared off the line by Aina in a frenetic finish after substitute Paul Onuachu had nodded in from a corner to set up a grandstand finale.
Forest had chances of their own to put the game to bed, not least when a Chris Wood goal was chalked off by VAR for offside after Aaron Ramsdale fumbled into his own net under pressure. In the end, Nuno Espírito Santo’s men did just enough to see out the victory, but not without a few nervy moments as an incredible twelve minutes of stoppage time were signaled.
Top Four Suddenly Within Reach for High-Flying Forest
Perched in the heady heights of fourth in the table, Forest suddenly have a very realistic chance of booking a scarcely believable Champions League spot next term. With the likes of Anderson, Gibbs-White and Hudson-Odoi beginning to purr, and three eminently winnable fixtures to come against Bournemouth, Everton and Wolves, the dream is very much alive for the City Ground faithful.
Southampton, meanwhile, stare a nightmare season in the face. Rooted to the foot of the table and shipping goals at an alarming rate, Juric has a mountain to climb to reverse their fortunes. On this evidence and with a horrific run of games ahead, Derby County’s record low points tally of 11 from the 2007-08 season is beginning to loom large as a very real possibility.
Star Man – Morgan Gibbs-White Pulls the Strings Again
- Key Passes: 5
- Assists: 1
- Pass Accuracy: 86%
- Dribbles Completed: 3
Morgan Gibbs-White was at the heart of everything good about Forest once more. The midfielder’s vision and technique were too much for Southampton to handle, exemplified by his sumptuous assist for Anderson’s opener. An 86% pass completion rate on a busy afternoon’s work underlines his growing influence on this Forest side as they dare to dream of mixing it with Europe’s elite next season.
“There’s a real sense of belief coursing through this group right now. With Morgan [Gibbs-White] and Elliot [Anderson] pulling the strings, we feel we can give anyone a game. Top four has to be the aim now – and we won’t stop until we get there.”
– Ryan Yates, Nottingham Forest midfielder
