Nottingham Forest took a huge step towards Premier League safety with a dramatic 4-3 win over Southampton, whose impending relegation to the Championship could be confirmed at the weekend.
Forest climbed out of the bottom three thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s brace, Morgan Gibbs-White’s penalty and Danilo’s brilliant team goal to give realistic hope that they can avoid the drop on their first season back in the top tier for 23 years. They took full advantage of defeats for Leeds United and Leicester City to move up to 16th, three points above the drop zone with three games to play.
Southampton’s situation is far bleaker and, despite goals from Carlos Alcaraz, Lyanco and James Ward-Prowse to keep them in the game, their 10-year stay in the top flight will end if they fail to beat Fulham on Saturday, while results elsewhere could also send them down even if they do win. It was a thrilling end-to-end encounter at the City Ground that completed a bumper Bank Holiday goals bonanza. The 21 goals scored on Monday are a Premier League record for a three-game matchday.
