Aina’s Forest defeat Iwobi’s Fulham to move out of relegation

Three first-half goals on Tuesday earned Nottingham Forest a vital 3-1 victory over Fulham in their battle to stay away from the Premier League relegation zone.

The hosts were irrepressible in the first period, with Callum Hudson-Odoi opening the scoring after nine minutes and Chris Wood doubling Forest’s advantage in the 19th minute.

Stunned, Fulham manager Marco Silva made a triple substitution in the 33rd minute. He pulled off Alex Iwobi, Sasa Lukic, and Harry Wilson and sent on Willian, Tom Cairney, and Adama Traore.

But it got worse for the visitors before the interval as the outstanding Morgan Gibbs-White made it 3-0 in first-half stoppage time with a clinical finish.

Fulham reacted well in the second half and threw themselves a lifeline when Tosin Adarabioyo headed in from a corner.

Both sides hit the woodwork, but, despite a few jitters, Forest held firm to move to 25 points, three ahead of Luton Town, who occupy the last relegation place.

Forest ended up in the bottom three of the EPL table after the Premier League docked them four points last month for breaching financial rules.

But they have responded impressively to that setback with a draw against Crystal Palace on Saturday, followed by Tuesday’s win over Fulham courtesy of a barnstorming first half.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, fired up by a vociferous City Ground crowd, took the lead inside 10 minutes as Gibbs-White’s ball released Hudson-Odoi, who cut back inside to dispatch a shot past Fulham keeper Bernd Leno.

Hudson-Odoi wasted another chance shortly afterwards, but Forest extended their lead when Chris Wood caught Bernd Leno off guard with a shot from the edge of the area.

Anthony Elanga should have made it 3-0, with Fulham being overwhelmed.

Forest were relentless going forward, though, and Gibbs-White rounded off a sensational half with a shot into the far corner to send the Forest fans into raptures.

Adarabioyo’s header soon after the restart caused some concern in the home ranks, but Forest were soon firing again, with Neco Williams having a shot deflected against the crossbar.

Fulham were much improved, though, and had Kenny Tete’s header gone in instead of glancing off the crossbar, it would have ensured a nerve-jangling finale.

(Reuters/NAN)