Nottingham Forest 1-0 Crystal Palace (Premier League) 12.11.22

Nottingham Forest are off the bottom of the Premier League table ahead of the month long World Cup break after an enthralling battling single goal victory over Crystal Palace at the City Ground.

It was the away side who had more of the better moments in the first half, Wilfred Zaha firing over from inside the area early doors whist Jeffrey Schlupp shot straight at Henderson from eighteen yards both chances coming in the opening fifteen minutes.

After clawing themselves back in the game, Forest players were calling for a red card on the half hour when Mitchell fouled Lingard outside the box, the Palace man injured himself in the process and took on treatment before Lodi curled over the resulting free kick, the covering defender ensuring VAR was not needed to interrupt the Referees original decision.

The visitors should have then taken a lead going into half time when Zaha was brought down inside the box by Joe Worrall, the Ivorian striker picking himself up to take the penalty before striking it off the post and out for a goal kick to the relief of the home fans, and the Nottingham Forest captain who’s error proved not to be as costly as first thought.

That miss proved even more costly from Zaha and Palace as Forest had the ball in the back of the net early in the second half. Gibbs-White thought he was offside after the assistant’s flag was raised following him firing home a rebound after Brennan Johnson’s shot was saved but after a long delay through VAR, he got the benefit of doubt to register his second Reds goal and second in successive league matches.

Ryan Yates then had a lucky scare when he received a booking for a foul which was overlooked by VAR for a potential sending off, Guehi then pulled back Johnson to also receive a yellow, Jesse Lingard with a golden opportunity to double the Reds lead curling wide after Johnson set him up, the best of the Reds opportunities spurned.

The last ten minutes were backs against the walls stuff, Forest defending heroically with minimal opportunity for the away side to really test Henderson in the Reds goal, the win lifting Forest off the bottom of the table with thirteen points from fifteen games, and more importantly, surpassing the points tally of eleven than Derby County got in their worst ever season in the Premier League, something the Reds fans will enjoy gloating about beating with more than half the campaign still to go.

Nottingham Forest: Henderson, Aurier, Worrall, Boly, Lodi (Williams 86), Yates, Freuler, Kouyate (Colback 70), Johnson, Gibbs-White (O’Brien 86), Lingard (Surridge 81).

Crystal Palace: Guaita, Clyne (Hughes 78), Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell (Ward 60), Oliseh, Doucore (Edouard 85), Schlupp, Ayew (Mateta 59), Zaha, Eze (Ebiowei 78).

Venue: City Ground

*Main image @NFFC Morgan Gibbs-White scores the winning goal.