Nottingham Forest climbed to second place in the Premier League table—albeit temporarily—with a commanding 2-0 victory over Everton, whose struggles in attack showed no signs of improvement.
Despite a pre-match setback when key defender Murillo picked up an injury during the warm-up, Nuno Espirito Santo’s team delivered another strong performance on the road.
Forest’s opener came in the first half through Chris Wood, who executed a clever one-two header combination with Anthony Elanga before deftly lifting the ball over Jordan Pickford.
The move was initiated by Morgan Gibbs-White, whose exquisite long ball sliced through the Everton defense and set the stage for Wood’s finish.
Gibbs-White doubled the lead on the hour mark, capitalizing on a defensive error by Abdoulaye Doucoure.
Elanga intercepted Doucoure’s sloppy backpass, found Wood in the box, and the striker unselfishly set up Gibbs-White.
The Forest midfielder cut inside Doucoure and hammered the ball into the top of the net.
Everton offered little in response, despite benching Dominic Calvert-Lewin to hand Armando Broja his first start of the season. The Toffees managed just one shot on target, coming as late as the 80th minute at Goodison Park.
James Tarkowski was fortunate to stay on the pitch after a rash challenge on Wood in the first half, even though he was already on a yellow card.
Sean Dyche’s men have now failed to score in seven of their last nine matches, with their once-reliable home form fading.
Hovering above the relegation zone, this was their third league defeat at Goodison Park this season, raising concerns about their survival chances.
