Nottingham Forest 3-1 Leeds United

Sangare 15'                                 Nmecha 13'

Gibbs-White 68'

Anderson 90+1'

Sat in 19^th, Forest were in desperate need for their first win in the Premier League under Sean Dyche. They hadn’t won since the opening day. They needed to change around their nine game winless run in the top-flight and sort out their run of nineteen league games without a clean sheet. They were facing another side near the bottom: Leeds United who have only won away once this season. The Reds are unbeaten in their last thirteen top-flight games against the Whites and Leeds haven’t won consecutive first division games against Forest since the 1970s. We were only eleven games into the season but this fixture was already a must-win for both sides.

The Reds’ side had four changes to it from their midweek Europa League game in Graz where they drew 0-0. More regular starters such as Matz Sels and Murillo returned to the side after they had to rotate in Austria due to injuries and suspensions. As for Leeds, they named two changes to their starting XI from their 3-0 loss at Brighton last weekend. Nmecha came in for Calvert-Lewin and Stach came in for Tanaka.

From the off, you could see the intensity the hosts were playing with. Sangare found Gibbs-White in a pocket before the Englishman bought down the ball and dribbled towards goal. He cut back to get the ball on his right foot before shooting from the edge of the box, trying to curl the ball into the bottom right corner. Perri was there to stop him, parrying the ball out for a corner. The Leeds ‘keeper was called into action not long later to make an even better save. Following a Dominguez corner from the left, Igor Jesus fired an effort towards goal from the edge of the box. The shot looked a simple one for Perri to gather but it took a deflection on its way which completely changed the direction of the ball. With Perri on the floor, diving to his right, he managed to recover really well to sit back up and stop the effort with a strong hand. Ndoye looked to creep in to get the rebound but before he could, the Brazilian got back up to parry the ball away. However, if Ndoye did score it wouldn’t have counted as he was offside.

Despite the hosts having the much better opening period, they found themselves behind. Deep into Forest’s half, Okafor pinched the ball off Nicolo Savona as he tried to bring the ball down. Okafor’s touch was heavy and Milenkovic seemed to win possession back but the winger slid in to find Aaronson. The American passed to Nmecha who took a touch, did a few step overs and then accurately rolled the ball into the bottom left corner. The last time Forest won a game from a losing position was last December so the task looked uphill from here but they found an immediate response. Milenkovic played a long ball forward down the right channel where Igor Jesus won the flick on for Savona. The Italian found Ndoye who got himself into the box before cutting back and putting a low ball into the danger area. Perri saw the danger so parried the ball away but straight into the path of Sangare to calmly roll the ball home from 10 yards out, just two minutes and seventeen seconds after his side conceded. That was his first goal in the Garibaldi and in the Premier League.

After finding the equaliser, Forest were on top in every aspect. They were keeping Leeds at arm’s length as they only had one shot in the first half of a league game for the first time under Farke. Forest were also up the other end of the pitch, creating many good chances, 10 shots coming in the first half of the game.

With the first fifteen of the second half feeling a bit flat, Dyche turned to his bench, bringing on Hutchinson, Awoniyi and Yates to try and make an impact. Oh, did they as Hutchinson was straight into the action with an assist. Murillo played a brilliant switch to the right which Hutchinson bought down. He cut back inside before fizzing in an inviting ball where an unmarked Gibbs-White was waiting. He gave the ball the tiniest flick with his head to see it bounce into the bottom left corner and give his side the lead. To try and rescue something from the game for Leeds, was Dan James from the bench. He showed some good feet before letting fly from the edge of the ‘d’. His effort was equally met by Sels who saved with a strong right arm. Any hopes of bringing points home for Leeds faded. On the left, Hutchinson slowed down before showing a burst of pace to get beyond Jack Harrison. The winger dribbled into the box before he was fouled from behind to win his side a penalty. Elliot Anderson stepped up to seal the three points which he did, firing the ball into the top left corner, sending Perri diving the wrong way.

I’m so happy we didn’t let the pressure of how important the game was affect us. We went out and showed fight especially when going behind. We were battling for every ball and everyone put their shift in. I was especially impressed with Ndoye’s work rate both offensively and defensively.  We need to give credit to the manager because all three subs really impacted the game, especially Hutchinson who won it for us. The cross to made it 2-1 was perfect for Gibbs-White and the brilliance to get beyond Harrison and then force him to trip him. I am excited to see what else he can do. It’s a shame the defence didn’t get their clean sheet as I thought they were all brilliant and we really limited Leeds attacks. Sangare was also brilliant, doing the simple things so well. Due to the win, we have put ourselves in a good position to get out of this which I think we will in a few weeks’ time. Now, we need to get those injured players back and get the players that will be around up to Dyche’s fitness standards.

Forest: Sels; Savona, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Ndoye, Sangare (Yates 59’), Anderson, Dominguez (Hutchinson 59’); Gibbs-White (Morato 88’); Igor Jesus (Awoniyi 59’)

Leeds United: Perri; Bogle, Rodon, Bijol (Struijk 82’), Gudmundsson (Harrison 82’); Ampadu; Aaronson (James 74’), Longstaff (Calvert-Lewin 74’), Stach, Okafor; Nmecha (Piroe 84’)