Nottingham Forest returned to winning away in emphatic fashion on Sunday afternoon with a 3-2 win against Southampton – watch the Nottingham Forest vs Southampton highlights below.
Forest Back With A Bang
It took Nottingham Forest just under 10 minutes to beak the deadlock at home on Sunday, as Elliott Anderson scored his first goal in the Premier League with a wonderful strike from range.
Anderson picked up the ball deep in midfield and after a driving run to the edge of the box the 22-year-old unleashed a bullet of an effort into the bottom left corner, leaving Aaron Ramsdale rooted to the spot in goal.
Southampton improved after the goal and for the majority of the first half the Premier League basement dwellers dominated in possession, but they failed to really create any clear cut opportunities going forward.
While Saints dominated in possession it was Forest who put the game to bed just before the half hour mark. Jan Bednarek was caught on the edge of his own box by Callum Hudson-Odoi and the winger immediately took advantage of the opportunity, winning back possession before firing a curling shot into the bottom corner to double the hosts lead.
The goalscorer’s afternoon was unfortunately cut short just before half time, as Hudson-Odoi was replaced by Jota Silva after he picked up an injury just after netting.
Chris Wood took slightly longer than usual to get in on the goalscoring action on Sunday but just minutes before half time he was able to get his goal, latching onto a perfect Ola Aina cross to head home his 14th of the season.
Southampton were able to get one back at the beginning of the second half, as Bednarek made up for an earlier costly mistake with a Lesley Ugochukwu shot deflecting off the defender for a consolation.
The Saints threatened a late comeback in added time when Paul Onuachu netted his first goal for Southampton, but it proved to be too little too late for the visitors who remain well off the survival pace this season.
WATCH: Nottingham Forest 3-2 Southampton Highlights
Nottingham Forest Pushing For Champions League
The win for Forest pushed them to level with Arsenal in the league again and the Gunners are now only ahead in the table by goal difference, which still remains nine heading into gameweek 23.
Looking back down the table Forest are in a comfortable enough position right now, as they are seven points clear of Bournemouth in sixth place.
Forest haven’t been in Europe since 1995/96 but after flying through this season they now look almost certain to qualify for one of the top UEFA competitions.
As per the best football betting sites, Nottingham Forest are a short price of 1/2 to finish in the top six and qualify for Europe next year.
