Nottingham Forest Boosts Survival Hopes with Victory over Fulham

More so the one-to-Premier League survival deepened for Nottingham Forest with a 3-1 emphatic win against Fulham at City Ground. Even though Fulham tried to fight a comeback in the second half, Forest’s three first-half goals remained the strongest potential to the arsenal to hold after the game. They pushed them to three crucial points not only above, but also clear the relegation zone.

From the very onset of the game, the Forest dominated the proceedings as Callum SodorOdoi broke the deadlock after only nine minutes. The German international cut inside and slid the ball home, with a sidepass from the axis and the left-hand side of the pitch supplied expertly.

Forest went further ahead, with Chris Wood scoring his goal after ten minutes and building upon his great record at scoring. The number eight goal in nine starts, Wood certainly settled in the club, finding the net again from a danger mark.

Finally, Gibbs-White crowned a superb afternoon for Forest with a third, as he put a crafting shot into the corner.

Fulham made the situation tense when Tosin Adarabioyo scored just one minute after the 46th-minute mark. It was a glancing header equally beautiful in tension and technique. This goal lifted the hope of Fulham that they could get back into the game, and the second half played out with very good possibilities from both sides.

Neco Williams bobbed on the slim for Forest just to hit a shot bar, while a wonderful save from Sels Mitenn sat on Fulham prevented Adarabioyo from achieving a second goal. Fulham’s savior – a daring, raging Kenny Tete – was inches away from hitting the crossbar with an unstoppable gunshot.

However, despite Fulham making it difficult for Forest as they tried to equalize through their onslaught, Forest came out winners on the day. The outcome instead of Fulham is pushed forward to the thirteenth place as Nottingham Forest climbs another place to the seventeenth on the league table heading to the Spurs match on Sunday and to make up its survival hopes.

Despite its initially gruesome pace, Forest Manages to Stick it Out at the End

Nottingham Forest already has a tough task ahead of their opening game after they suffered a four-point deduction for breaches of Premier League financial rules (a top official confirmed that they will appeal the decision). So, they need to get off to a flying start to afford themselves some space within the bottom half of the league table.

An equally resilient display against an unpredictable opponent Crystal Palace helped the side gain a point the last time out. Thus the team is now only two points away from that of fellow thinly divided second last placed club Luton United.

It seems to be that the impending second half will be difficult for us given the scoreline and how well Fulham is, so will just make the efforts that are necessary to score. It was remarkable to see their grit in the first half too, that let us cut short the Fulham comeback plot which they could otherwise execute.

An empathic strike from Wood in the 89th minute was, again, his third successive goal in the Premier League that only pointed out his relevance to the team. Callum Hudson-Odoi on the other hand has managed to himself to create an impression in Forest.

He has to his name five goals in 22 pleasing outings so far at Forest. Contrary to his goals tallies in Chelsea where he took 72 outings to score the same number of goals.

Forest almost gained the advantage, when in the second half, Anthony Elanga hit the post and Divock Origi, who is still waiting for his first Premier League goal from his team since he joined, also missed his two chances for the ball.

The Yellow Army has lifted its black cloud produced by Fulham’s first victory in its first Premier League. And you would expect, as visitors will pay homage to the new development in the game of Newcastle.

While this is so, they still have to be on the alert to face challenges that could compromise their survival.

This season for Fulham featured weak results which is evident in the fact that they gave a surprisingly good performance against the top-notch teams: Tottenham, Manchester United, and Arsenal, and then on the other hand lost to the teams they could win quite easily, as it was the case of Bournemouth and Burnley.

The disappointment in the first half made the head coach, Marco Silva, introduce the first one-third of the game with the changes of Willian, Cairney, and Traore, in an attempt to change the course of the game.

Despite Fulham displaying some good moments, those moments were not enough to help them get out of the jams; instead, they allowed their rivals to finally score a goal that humiliated them.

After several attempts from Willian and Rodrigo Muniz, the Cottagers couldn’t get on the scoresheet. Adama Traore hit the bar in the dying moment of the match but Fulham were again found wanting in their replication of the heroics from the previous match when they reversed a two-goal margin against Sheffield United which ended in a stunning 3-3 scoreline.

Fulham have now lost three of their most recent matches in the league whereas it has been a bit more comfortable with the team winning one of its fifteen matches on the road.

Conclusion

The triumph of Nottingham Forest over Fulham has turned the chances of survival in the Premier League from slim to realistic and enhanced their hope of getting out of the relegation zone. In the end, Forest defeated the opponent using a 3:1 win. The players from the winning team demonstrated their superiority with 3 goals scored in the first half, especially.

However, Fulham managed to create few chances and thus the score remained unchanged at 1-0 just three minutes from the end of the match. Therefore, Forest players were able to get some points that enabled them to continue in the Premier League next season.

In addition to this, Callum SodorOdoi, Chris Wood, and Gibbs-White, all teammates in Forest, should be congratulated for helping the team to win with their objectives. Being the start of the second half, Fulham’s Tosin Adarabioyo rapidly brought the thrill to the game by scoring an early goal, however, Forest stood firm till the end of the match to secure the victory.