Izuchukwu OkosiNottingham Forest boosted their top five hoped and a place in the UEFA Champions League for the 2025/2026 season Sunday afternoon with a 2-1 away win over West Ham United.
Forest have thus secured European football for the first time in 30 years but their final day clash against Chelsea will decide if they are headed to the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe City players warmed up in t- shirts with ‘Awoniyi 9’ on the backs before kick off in solidarity with Nigeria international Taiwo Awoniyi who only recently underwent a surgery for a rupture of the abdomen.
Manchester City target Morgan Gibbs-White was gifted the opening goal when West Ham keeper Alphonso Areola sloppily passed the ball towards him to tap into an empty net to go ahead and hold aloft an Awoniyi jersey.
The England international had previously had a fierce shot gathered by Areola.
Similar to the Taiwo Awoniyi incident, West Ham’s Jared Bowen clashed against the post and had a cut above his eye.
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Assistant referee Sian Massey-Ellis, who delayed her offside flag in the game between Forest and Leicester City, leading to the Awoniyi injury, was on duty on Sunday and there were similar frustration among the fan base when Bowen sustained the injury.
The Forest fans had to wait for several minutes to celebrate Nikola Milenkovic’s goal in the second half after a VAR review.
Jarrod Bowen pulled a goal back for the Irons deep into the second half when he controlled the ball brilliantly and let fly an unstoppable half-volley to make for a nervy finish.
Eleven minutes of added time was shown by the fourth official but West Ham could not fashion decent chances for a probable second goal.
Forest are guaranteed European football but face the possibility of losing some first team players to other interested clubs this summer.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
