Nottingham Forest claimed another win to make it four points from the week by beating Southampton 3-2 at the City Ground on a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon.
Forest got off to a flyer. Elliot Anderson got the Reds on the front foot rasping a long-range effort into the bottom corner to leave Aaron Ramsdale clutching at thin air – and not for the first time!
Shortly after, Forest strengthened their advantage. Callum Hudson-Odoi broke away from deep and with options to his right and left, decided instead to rifle an unstoppable right-footed shot beyond Ramsdale for 2-0.
Hudson-Odoi did have to limp off but his absence wasn’t immediately felt. On 31 minutes, Forest had a third, Jota Silva fed the ball to Ola Aina and his cross was merely headed towards the bottom corner by Wood and Ramsdale made a feeble effort to save it.
That should been game over but the Saints rallied after the break. First, Jan Bednarek deflected a shot over Matz Sels and into the back of the net and shortly after 12 minutes of stoppage time had been announced Paul Onuachu headed home to start the nerves jangling.
Elliot Anderson scores first Premier League goal for Forest vs Southampton
The 22-year-old has come close to scoring in the Premier League before. He’s had a few chances this season, whilst during the 2022/23 campaign he had a goal chalked off for Forest at the City Ground whilst playing for Newcastle.
Anderson’s goal here was a joy to behold. It was very much a speculative effort but ultimately it found the bottom corner and hopefully, the goal can become the first of many.
After the game, the player wrote on Instagram. He was clearly delighted to score his first Forest goal and get off the mark as a Premier League player, posting: “First Premier League goal and another massive win.”
Anthony Gordon and Forest stars send messages to Elliot Anderson
The Newcastle winger was the first to post on Anderson’s message to send him his congratulations over a first Premier League goal. He said: “It’s about time”, whilst also posting a laughing emoji and a round of applause.
Morgan Gibbs-White was next. There is a genuine possibility that Anderson and Gibbs-White might play together for England at some stage in their career and he posted: “First of many for sure.”
Finally, Callum Hudson-Odoi also posted on Anderson’s heartfelt upload to Instagram. He said “What a player”, whilst also posting a couple of fire emojis to indicate his star performance.
Anderson has finally held down a place in the Forest team after his £35 million move from Newcastle. The central midfield spot looks to be his own now and if he can add more goals to his game the Reds will be absolutely delighted.
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