Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Nottingham Forest will celebrate Christmas in the Premier League’s top four for the first time in 30 years after they handed Brentford their first home defeat of the season with an impressive 2-0 victory at the Community Stadium.
Although Brentford dominated possession, Forest put in the hard yards before goals from Ola Aina and Anthony Elanga helped the visitors move provisionally up to third with 31 points.
Brentford were unbeaten at home in 10 games in all competitions, which included nine victories, but the loss leaves them 12th in the standings with 23 points.
Brentford gave Forest an early scare when they nearly went ahead in the fourth minute after Mikkel Damsgaard found space in the box to shoot, forcing goalkeeper Matz Sels into a save.
But Forest gradually grew into the game and nearly took the lead when top scorer Chris Wood tested Mark Flekken with a header that forced the goalkeeper into a reaction save.
Forest went ahead in the 38th minute when a cross from Neco Williams went through the Brentford defence, and with the centre backs marking Wood, the ball fell to an unmarked Aina, who fired into the bottom corner to make it 1-0.
That goal woke Brentford up and they had a spell of possession where Bryan Mbeumo created several opportunities, with one of his headers falling to Kristoffer Ajer who had his shot parried away by Sels.
Brentford threw everything they had at Forest late in the second half. But Espirito Santo ensured the visitors kept the Bees at bay for the rest of the game to seal the three points.
