Anderson scores first Forest goal as Southampton's slump continues

Today at 11:24 AM

It is impossible to avoid the sense that something special is stirring on the Trent. Nottingham Forest averted a late scare to dispatch bottom club Southampton to move level on points with second-placed Arsenal and extend their unbeaten run to eight Premier League matches. Forest were rampant, roaring into a 3-0 lead inside 41 minutes before the visitors pulled a goal back, via an unknowing Jan Bednarek, and then Paul Onuachu headed in from a corner early in second-half stoppage time to tee up an unlikely grandstand finish. Ola Aina then cleared a Bednarek header off the line from another corner.

So Saints, who led for 82 minutes at Old Trafford before collapsing as Amad Diallo hit a hat-trick for Manchester United on Thursday, belatedly showed some guts but it is now five defeats from five under Ivan Juric. Nuno Espírito Santo told how Ola Aina, who played under Juric at Torino, gave him the lowdown on what to expect but few would have envisaged the finale that played out after Forest had a fourth goal disallowed by the referee, Anthony Taylor, after a VAR review. Aaron Ramsdale inadvertently fumbled Nikola Milenkovic's header into his own net but an offside Chris Wood, again on the scoresheet, was deemed to have been interfering with play.