Chris Wood’s hat-trick helped Nottingham Forest produce a 7-0 demolition of Brighton & Hove Albion at the City Ground.
Forest’s dominant afternoon began with a 12th minute own-goal from Brighton’s Lewis Dunk as he turned Morgan Gibbs-White’s low cross into his own goal.
Headers from Gibbs-White and Wood in the 25th and 32nd minutes respectively saw Forest take control at half-time, before Wood added Forest’s fourth goal with a close-range 64th minute effort.
The New Zealand international completed his hat-trick with a 69th minute penalty following Tariq Lamptey’s foul on Gibbs-White during a corner two minutes earlier.
Late goals from Neco Williams and Jota Silva further completed Forest’s ruthless win to stay third in the table, whilst Brighton remained ninth.
Speaking to BBC’s Match of the Day post-match, Forest boss – Nuno Espirito Santo praised his team for their improvement after last weekend’s humiliation at Bournemouth.
“The response on the pitch from the players was beyond our expectations. We were concerned, we wanted to put it right because last week wasn’t good enough and they were aware of that and the response was great.”
A week on from their five-goal defeat in an uncharacteristic display at Bournemouth, Forest looked fired up for this test of their top-four credentials which saw them forced to block a third minute shot from Brighton’s Joao Pedro.
Their counter-attacking pace however had been Forest’s asset this season and that weapon soon rose to the fore with a clinical piece of play in the 12th minute, which culminated in Gibbs-White’s low cross into the box being deflected by Brighton’s Dunk into his own-goal.
Brighton soon found themselves outfought defensively as they looked for a way back into the game but got a slice of 19th minute luck after Anthony Elanga broke forward, yet the Swede bravely bent his low shot just narrowly wide of the bottom-right corner.
That luck quickly began to fade as Gibbs-White doubled Forest’s lead with a 25th minute header into the top-left corner from Elanga’s corner-kick, which had been conceded by Yankuba Minteh.
Neco Williams and Wood then saw chances denied but Wood wasn’t ultimately to be denied twice as he nodded Elanga’s 32nd minute cross in at the left post, which sparked celebrations with Forest three goals to the good at the break.
Brighton however nearly found themselves just two goals behind at half-time if Danny Welbeck had converted his 39th minute shot, which was superbly tipped onto the underside of the crossbar by Matz Sels but crucially didn’t cross the line as the ball bounced down off the woodwork to Forest’s relief.
Fabian Hürzeler subsequently made three changes to his Brighton team as Joao Pedro, Kaoru Mitoma and Hinshelwood were for Diego Gomez, Simon Adingra and Matt O’Riley at half-time, which sparked fresh life into their attack against a resilient Forest defence early in the second half.
Any hope of a fightback were ultimately ended with a clinical 64th minute attack which saw Elanga play a low cross across the box, met by Wood who calmly slotted in his second goal whilst Elanga in-turn earned a hat-trick of assists.
Brighton fans soon began to flee the City Ground for a long deflating journey home as Tariq Lamptey brought down Gibbs-White during a corner-kick, which referee – Simon Hooper spotted and awarded Forest a penalty.
Wood consequently stepped up and dispatched his spot-kick into the right corner to complete his second hat-trick in a Forest shirt – having scored his first hat-trick away at Newcastle on 26 December 2023 – to wrap up victory in front of a jubilant home crowd as Forest scored five goals in a top-flight game for the first time since 1995.
Brighton’s Evan Ferguson made a 73rd minute substitute appearance amidst speculation linking him with multiple Premier League clubs, having not played since late December due to an ankle injury but wasn’t able to rescue a consolatory goal as the Seagulls suffered consecutive league defeats for the first time under Hürzeler.
Forest however weren’t done in compounding Brighton’s misery as Williams rifled in from close-range after Taiwo Awoniyi’s shot was deflected in the 89th minute.
Jota Silva then pounced upon a loose pass in the first minute of injury time to net his first Premier League goal as Forest eventually settled for a seven-goal victory.
What’s Next?
Forest turn their attention to the fourth round of the FA Cup which sees them head to Exeter City on Tuesday 11 February at 8pm GMT, before returning their focus to the league with a trip to Fulham on Saturday 15 Feb (3pm).
Brighton will too be in FA Cup action as they host Chelsea on Saturday 11 Feb at 8pm in the first of two meetings in six days, as the Seagulls and Blues then meet in the top-flight on 14 Feb (8pm).
Teams
Nottingham Forest: Matz Sels, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo (Boly 72′), Morato, Ola Aina, Elliott Anderson (Sangare 82′), Danilo (Dominguez 65′), Neco Williams, Morgan Gibbs-White (Jota Silva 72′), Chris Wood (Awoniyi 82′), Anthony Elanga
Substitutes: Taiwo Awoniyi, Willy Boly, Nicolas Dominguez, Jota Silva, Alex Moreno, Ibrahim Sangare, Ramon Sosa, Ryan Yates, Carlos Miguel
Brighton: Bart Verbruggen, Joel Veltman, Jan Paul Van Hecke, Lewis Dunk, Tariq Lamptey, Jack Hinshelwood (O’Riley 46′), Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter, Kaoru Mitoma (Adingra 46′), Danny Welbeck (Ferguson 73′), Joao Pedro (Gomez 46′)
Substitutes: Simon Adingra, Evan Ferguson, Brajan Gruda, Diego Gomez, Joe Knight, Ruairi McConville, Matt O’Riley, Carl Rushworth, Adam Webster
Referee: Simon Hooper
Leave a Reply