Aina, Awoniyi Get the Better of Ndidi as Forest Beat Leicester

Super Eagles duo, Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi yesterday night got the better of their international teammate, Wilfred Ndidi, as Nottingham Forest defeated Leicester City 3-1 at the King Power Stadium, in the first game of this weekend’s Premier League.

Aina, who played the whole 90 minutes for the Tricky Trees ensured he kept the Foxes attackers at bay. Though Ndidi was in the heart of Leicester’s defence, he was substituted in the 74th minute, while Awoniyi only saw 10 minutes of action for Forest.

Meanwhile, Chris Wood continued his red-hot scoring form with a second-half double that sent Nottingham Forest fifth in the Premier League after a 3-1 win at East Midlands rivals Leicester.

Wood has netted seven Premier League goals this season, putting him three behind top scorer, Erling Haaland, while the New Zealand international also moved joint-second on Forest’s all-time Premier League goals list.

In an entertaining first half, Forest went ahead at the King Power Stadium in the 16th minute after Facundo Buonanotte and James Justin both failed to clear, allowing Ryan Yates to arrow in first time from outside the box.

But the visitors were quickly pegged back seven minutes later after some fine work from Harry Winks saw the midfielder cross for Jamie Vardy, who finished from close range with what turned out to be Leicester’s only shot on target of the match.

Two minutes after the equaliser, Leicester goalkeeper Mads Hermansen pulled off a stunning save to deny Nicolas Dominguez, which Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher described as “Schmeichel-like”.

But Hermansen could do nothing to stop Wood’s first goal just two minutes into the second half as the 32-year-old clinically fired home on the spin inside the box.

Wood then grabbed his second in the 60th minute as he took advantage of further poor Leicester defending with a looping header for his fifth goal in five games.