Nottingham Forest's New Zealand striker Chris Wood celebrates after scoring. Photo: AFP
New Zealand striker Chris Wood scored his 14th goal of the English Premier League season as Nottingham Forest beat Southampton 3-2 to continue a fairytale run
Forest had to survive a late onslaught before securing the win to move level on points with second-placed Arsenal in the standings.
The victory puts third-placed Forest on 44 points, six points off leaders Liverpool who have a game in hand, while Southampton remain rooted to the bottom with six points.
Wood's dream campaign continued when he found the net late in the first half to put the home side 3-0 ahead, calmly glancing in a cross from Ola Aina.
Earlier, the Kiwi marksman produced his second assist of the season, setting up Callum Hudson-Odoi after catching Jan Bednarek in possession on the edge of the box.
Wood could have had a second, but his second-half "goal" was disallowed for offside after a VAR review, sparking debate from the Forest players.
Wood's tally matches his previous record of 14 goals in a season, having achieved exactly that mark last season with Forest and also with Burnley in 2019/20.
Forest were patient in their build-up play and three shots on target in the first half led to three goals, with Saints mostly having no answers to a dominant display, although the home side almost let their commanding lead slip late on.
Forest were cruising when Southampton pulled one back from nowhere on the hour mark, with Lesley Ugochukwu's shot taking a wicked deflection off the foot of teammate Bednarek which took the ball looping over keeper Matz Sels and under the crossbar.
Paul Onuachu then powered home a header from a corner and suddenly Southampton were all over Forest, with the home side having Aina to thank when he hooked clear a Bednarek header with Sels beaten as they held on to take all three points.
Forest stretched their unbeaten run to eight league games, only dropping points in that period in a 1-1 home draw with Liverpool in midweek, while Southampton manager Juric has now lost all five league matches since taking over in December.
Manchester United beaten
Manchester United endured a miserable 3-1 defeat at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday after visiting winger Yankuba Minteh scored one goal and created another, with the hosts not helped by a howler from goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter were also on the scoresheet in the second half for Brighton, who also had a goal from Joao Pedro ruled out by VAR for a foul in the build-up.
Bruno Fernandes netted a penalty for United to level the score at 1-1 at halftime but, after Brighton took the lead for the second time, Onana spilled a routine gather from a low cross into the box, allowing Rutter to tap home the loose ball.
Brighton climb to ninth place with 34 points, four points off the top four. United are 13th on 26 also from 22 games.
Brighton have won in six of their last seven league games with United and on their last three visits to Old Trafford.
The teams were led out by bagpipes in memory of club great Denis Law, who passed away this week, with a wreath laid at the centre-circle by former manager Alex Ferguson.
Brighton led inside five minutes as Mitoma beat the offside trap on the left from Carlos Baleba's long ball and his pass across goal provided a simple finish for the unmarked Minteh.
United won a penalty midway through the first half when Brighton attempted to play the ball out of defence, but goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen's pass was poor and the ball fell to Joshua Zirkzee in the box.
Baleba put his arm on the shoulder of the striker, who went to ground and referee Peter Bankes pointed to the spot, with Fernandes having no problem slotting home to level the score.
Brighton thought they were in front again seven minutes into the second period when United failed to clear a low free-kick into the box and Pedro finished but a VAR check ruled Jan Paul van Hecke had kicked the foot of Diogo Dalot in the melee.
However, the visitors did get a second on the hour when Mitoma stretched at the back post ahead of United defender Noussair Mazraoui to turn in Minteh's inviting cross.
Brighton then netted a third thanks to Onana's horrendous error to make the game safe and leave United to dwell on their 10th league defeat of the league campaign.
Everton find the net
Everton's blistering first-half display secured a 3-2 win over a woeful Tottenham Hotspur side as David Moyes earned his first win since returning for a second spell as manager at Goodison Park, piling more misery on the visitors.
West Ham manager David Moyes. 2024. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Needing to get back to winning ways after a recent poor run of form, Everton took the game to their beleaguered opponents, racing into a two-goal lead inside 30 minutes through Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Iliman Ndiaye.
Things went from bad to worse for Spurs in first-half stoppage time as young Archie Gray put through his own net to ensure Everton scored as many goals within one half of football as in their previous seven games in all competitions.
Goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison caused the home fans some concern late on but the hosts survived to record a win that moved 16th-placed Everton four points clear of the bottom three and within four of sorry Spurs who are one place higher.
- Reuters
