Nottingham Forest made the trip to the south coast to face Bournemouth on Saturday in a matchup between two of the Premier League’s most in-form teams.
Forest’s 3-2 victory over Southampton was overshadowed by an injury to Callum Hudson-Odoi at the City Ground, prompting Jota Silva to take his place on the wing against Bournemouth.
Androni Iraola was cautious about Forest’s strong away form ahead of the game, as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side had only lost twice on the road in the Premier League this season.
However, Forest manager Espirito Santo would have been disappointed with how the match unfolded, as Justin Kluivert gave Bournemouth the lead with a goal before halftime.
Nicolas Dominguez replaced Ryan Yates at the break, but any impact hoped for from this change was quickly nullified when Dango Ouattara doubled the hosts’ lead.
Kluivert thought he had added a second, but VAR ruled it out, only to see Ouattara score again, making it 3-0 and effectively ending Forest’s chances.
As the game neared its conclusion, Matz Sels misjudged a long-range shot, allowing Ouattara to complete his hat-trick and hand Forest their first four-goal defeat of the season. Antoine Semenyo added a fifth in stoppage time.
Matz Sels – 4
The Belgian goalkeeper couldn’t do much about Kluivert’s opener and must have been frustrated with the lack of defensive support. His weak save from a late shot allowed Ouattara to score a fourth.
Morato – 5
Failed to shore up a surprisingly vulnerable Forest defense.
Alex Moreno – 5
Took over from Williams but had little impact going forward, and while he wasn’t tested defensively, he didn’t offer much support either.
Ramon Sosa – 4
It’s hard to judge Forest’s attackers in this game, but Sosa didn’t make much of an impact after replacing Silva.
Taiwo Awoniyi – 5
By the time Awoniyi entered the game in place of Gibbs-White, the match was already beyond Forest’s reach.
Nottingham Forest player ratings vs Bournemouth… Murillo struggles but one star delivers a 2/10 disaster-class
