Ola Aina Spearheads Forest’s Push for European Football, Beat Brentford

•  Man City woes continue with defeat at Aston Villa

*Jesus reigns at Arsenal 

Duro Ikhazuagbe 

Nigerian international defender, Ola Aina, spearheaded Nottingham Forest’s Top 4 status ahead the Christmas and Boxing Day celebrations as The Tricky Trees defeated Brentford 2-0 on Saturday evening.

Having withstood some early pressure from Brentford, Forest opened the scoring in the 38th minuted when Neco Williams got down the left and his low cross was placed into the bottom left corner by Nigeria full-back Aina.

Anthony Elanga took the game beyond the reach of the hosts when he nailed their coffin in the 51st minute with the second goal.

Elanga capitalised on a mistake from Keane Lewis-Potter and drove into the penalty area before dispatching his effort past Bees goalkeeper Mark Flekken into the bottom left corner.

It proved a frustrating afternoon for Brentford, who came into the contest with the best home record in the English top flight, having won seven and drawn one of their previous eight fixtures.

The win maintained Forest’s push for European football next term, with their return of 31 points from 17 fixtures, the highest the club has managed in a top-flight campaign since 1987-88, when they finished third.

Speaking after his wards picked maximum points at Brentford, 

Nottingham Forest boss, Nuno Espírito Santo, said his team have “achieved nothing yet” despite inflicting a first home defeat of the season on Brentford to head into Christmas in the Premier League top four.

“It’s not about the table. It’s about improving, realising that there is still a long way to go and realising that we’ve achieved nothing yet,” observed  Nuno to reporters after the game.

“Let’s stay humble and work very hard. This is how you build something.

“It is about this journey together and every day is important, improving the team.”

Elsewhere, Manchester City’s crisis intensified as they slipped to another damaging 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa.

Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers goals meant Phil Foden’s late reply for the visitors was little consolation.

Defending champions City have dropped to sixth in the Premier League, nine points behind leaders Liverpool having played two games more, while Villa have moved above them into fifth.

It is now nine defeats in 12 games in all competitions for City, who are winless in their last eight away matches, as their season continues to spiral downwards.

At Selhurst Park, Gabriel Jesus scored twice as Arsenal put five past Crystal Palace to move to within three points of the top of the Premier League.

It took the Brazil striker’s tally against the Eagles to five in a week, following his Carabao Cup quarter-final hat-trickon Wednesday.

But there was a setback for the Gunners as Bukayo Saka limped off in the first half.