Norwich escaped this midweek’s action unscathed at top of Sky Bet Championship as there were some position changes and plenty of goals.
The Canaries could only manage a goalless draw at third bottom Hull but the gap to second is down to a point as Leeds United displaced Middlesbrough, after they beat Reading through a Stuart Dallas effort whilst Boro could only draw 1-1 at Preston North End.
West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield United remain fourth and fifth, having come from behind to beat Swansea and Brentford respectively.
Embed from Getty ImagesDerby County dropped out of the top six following a 2-1 defeat against former manager, Gary Rowett and his Stoke City side. Sam Clucas gave the Potters a half-time lead before Harry Wilson struck back for Derby shortly after the break before Tom Ince put away Clucas’ pass.
Derby’s slip up meant that Nottingham Forest could move into sixth with at least a draw at Aston Villa.
Early goals from Lewis Grabban and Joao Carvalho had Forest ahead after six minutes, before Villa struck back with a quick-fire Tammy Abraham double. Matty Cash then latched on a through ball from Joe Lolley to restore the visitors’ lead.
That wasn’t the last of a dramatic first half as Yannick Bolasie was fouled, so up stepped Abraham to make it 3-3 at break with a coolly taken penalty.
Embed from Getty ImagesSix minutes into second half, Lolley produced an epic long range goal but it would only be the start of another dramatic half.
Tobias Figueiredo saw red for a late challenge on John McGinn, and Abraham headed in Jack Grealish’s resulting free kick to level the score with 20 minutes left.
Villa then moved ahead for first time in the game four minutes later, when Anwar El Ghazi put away Neil Taylor’s pass to make it 5-4.
Forest then snatched a point after Grabban slotted in Lolley’s pass from close range to wrap up the match at 5-5.
This was the first time that Villa had played out a 5-5 home draw whilst Forest hadn’t achieved this type of result home nor away in their 153 year history as they moved above Derby into sixth and Villa remain eighth.
QPR sit ninth after an entertaining 2-2 draw at Rotherham whilst Birmingham complete the top ten by seeing off Millwall through a James Meredith own goal and Michael Morrison tuck in from close range.
Elsewhere, Ipswich suffered another home defeat as Bristol City twice came from behind before Famara Diedhiou netted the winner in a 3-2 victory for the Robins, leaving Ipswich rock bottom and six points adrift of Bolton Wanderers after the Trotters lost 1-0 away to Sheffield Wednesday.
Finally, Wigan saw off Blackburn Rovers 3-1 in a Lancashire derby to end a five match losing run.
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