Awoniyi’s Goal Pulls Nottingham Forest Five Points Clear Relegation Zone

Taiwo Awoniyi scored Nottingham Forest’s lead just before half-time with Callum Hudson-Odoi sealing the win in added time as the hosts team defeated West Ham 2-0 yesterday.

Awoniyi has now scored twice since his return from an injury layoff, which cost him to miss a place in the Super Eagles squad that were the beaten finalist at the just concluded AFCON in Côte d’Ivoire.

The born-again Christian also passed on another divine message quoting a passage from the bible about the awesome power of God.

The striker got booked for removing his jersey and revealing the vest that displayed the bible passage.

The win moved Forest five points clear of the Premier League relegation zone and added to the pressure on West Ham United manager David Moyes with a deserved victory at the City Ground.

On-loan midfielder Kalvin Phillips was shown two yellow cards in three minutes midway through the second half as he had another game to forget for West Ham.

Forest move up to 15th while Moyes’ side’s failure to bounce back from the 6-0 defeat against Arsenal last Sunday means they stay eighth.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s Forest went into the game on the back of six defeats in their last seven home matches but took advantage of the opportunity to face a West Ham side chastened by last weekend’s thrashing.

Elsewhere, Mohamed Salah scored on his return from injury as Liverpool beat Brentford 4-1 to maintain their lead at the top of the Premier League.

Darwin Nunez put Liverpool ahead with a superb chip before Alexis Mac Allister poked in a second at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Salah, back from a hamstring problem sustained on Egypt duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, got on the scoresheet with a crisp finish.

Ivan Toney pulled a goal back for Brentford, but Cody Gakpo added the gloss for Liverpool with a late strike.

At Etihad Stadium, Rodri dramatically rescued a point with a late leveller for Manchester City to deny Chelsea victory and maintain his side’s long unbeaten home record in the 1-1 draw yesterday.

City still lost ground in the title race after seeing Liverpool and Arsenal both post emphatic wins earlier on Saturday, but this has to go down as a point gained given how close they came to defeat.

RESULTS

PREMIER LEAGUE

Brentford 1-4 Liverpool

Burnley 0-5 Arsenal

Fulham 1-2 Aston Villa

Newcastle 2-2 Bournemouth

N’ Forest 2-0 West Ham

Tottenham 1-2 Wolves

Man City 1-1 Chelsea

SERIE A

Napoli 1-1 Genoa

Verona 2-2 Juventus