Nottingham Forest win seven-goal thriller to all-but relegate Southampton

Nottingham Forest beat Southampton 4-3 in one of the games of the Premier League season to boost their survival hopes and all but relegate the Saints.

After 11 years in the Premier League the Saints are surely marching down to the second-tier.

FULL MATCH REPLAY

Taiwo Awoniyi put Forest 2-0 up with two quickfire goals in the first half but Carlos Alcaraz made it 2-1 as a spirited Southampton dominated most of the first half. However, they went in 3-1 down at the break as Morgan Gibbs-White dispatched a penalty kick.

Lyanco made it 3-2 early in the second half and Southampton had chances to draw level but Danilo delivered made it 4-2 to send the City Ground faithful wild. James Ward-Prowse made it 4-3 in stoppage time via a penalty kick as the Saints, much to their credit, never gave up.

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The win puts Nottingham Forest on to 33 points for the season as they sit three points above the relegation zone with three games to go. Southampton sit rock bottom on 24 points and are eight points from safety with three games to go.

This was a game neither team deserved to lose as Southampton were the better team for large chunks but came away with nothing. Forest took all three points and embraced the chaos of the situation for the second win in 14 games. This wasn’t about style of play or sparkling individual skill but more about reading the game and doing whatever it demanded. Forest were excellent on the counter attack and Steve Cooper got his tactics spot on with Brennan Johnson causing problems with his pace and Awoniyi on hand to finish twice to set them on their way. Was it shaky? Yes. Were Forest a bag of nerves? Yes. But that is what this part of the season is all about and