Blog

NOTTINGHAM, England, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 – Nottingham Forest made the most of the dismissal of West Ham United’s Edson Alvarez with a rip-roaring 3-0 win on Saturday that lifted them into third spot in the Premier League, with Chris Wood, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ola Aina getting the goals.

Having battled against relegation before finishing 17th last season, Forest’s bright start this term has taken them to 19 points from 10 games, six behind Liverpool and four off second-placed Manchester City, while West Ham are 14th on 11 points.

Roared on by their fans, Forest started well and took the lead in the 27th minute when Wood broke the deadlock with an old-fashioned striker’s goal as Moreno got down the left and produced a perfect cross for the New Zealander to nod home.

West Ham’s chances of a comeback were dealt a blow when Alvarez picked up his first yellow card in the 39th minute and then followed that in first-half stoppage time with a clumsy sliding tackle on Anthony Elanga, resulting in a red card.

Lucas Paqueta had almost equalised with West Ham’s first shot on target just before the break and, though they kept the tempo up, Alvarez’s sending-off eventually took the wind out of the visitors’ sails as Forest capitalised on the man advantage.

The Hammers went further behind in the 65th when Hudson-Odoi’s sweetly-struck shot from just outside the box took a deflection on its way in and Aina wrapped up the win with a blistering left-foot drive into the top corner in the 78th.

The hosts thought had a fourth in added time but Ryan Yates’ effort was ruled out for offside after a VAR check. There were plenty of celebrations at the end though as Forest’s third win in a row saw them join the challengers at the top of the table.

“We were really getting into it at the end and we wanted more goals. Unfortunately mine didn’t go in but we are delighted with today’s work,”

Yates told the BBC before giving credit to coach Nuno Espirito Santo for their excellent start to the season.

“He can really implement the ideas.

There are many things that have gone into why we were doing well. I think the recruitment has been fantastic, we have kept the core together and we are doing really well,” Yates added.

“There are still things we can improve on – they (West Ham) are a tough opposition and they went down to 10 men which changed things but you can only beat what is in front of you.”