Dominant display against Fulham lifts Forest away from relegation Man City boss Guardiola backs ‘exceptional’ Haaland after Keane’s general play criticism
Nottingham, England - Three first-half goals earned Nottingham Forest a vital 3-1 victory over Fulham in their battle to stay away from the Premier League relegation zone on Tuesday.
The hosts were irrepressible in the first period with Callum Hudson-odoi opening the scoring after nine minutes and Chris Wood doubling Forest’s advantage in the 19th minute.
Stunned Fulham manager Marco Silva made a triple substitution but it got worse for the visitors before the interval as the outstanding Morgan GibbsWhite made it 3-0 in stoppage time with a clinical finish.
Fulham reacted well in the second half and threw themselves a lifeline when Tosin Adarabioyo headed in from a corner.
Manchester, England - Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said Erling Haaland is the best striker in the world and defended the Norwegian’s performances following criticism from former Manchester United captain Roy Keane.
Haaland, who scored 36 goals in the Premier League last season, had little impact in City’s 00 draw with Arsenal on Sunday and Keane said the 23-year-old’s general play was well below Premier League level. “His general play is so poor, and not just today. I think he has to improve that, he’s almost like a League Two player,” Keane said on Sky Sports after Sunday’s game.
Guardiola said he did not agree with Keane’s remarks on Haaland, who is the league’s top scorer with 18.
“He (Haaland) is the best striker in the world and helped us to win (the treble) last season,
Both sides hit the woodwork but despite a few jitters Forest held firm to move to 25 points, three ahead of Luton Town who occupy the last relegation place.
Forest were left deep in trouble when they were docked four points last month for breaching Premier League financial rules.
But they have responded impressively to that setback with a draw against Crystal Palace at
and the reason why we don’t create many chances is not because of Erling,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “We played an exceptional game against Arsenal. I reviewed it – we just missed more people in the final third maybe. For the quality and different skills we have, Haaland is exthe weekend followed by Tuesday’s win over Fulham courtesy of a barnstorming first half.
Bournemouth win
Bournemouth gave themselves an outside chance of qualifying for Europe with a 1-0 home victory over Crystal Palace that left the visitors still looking over their shoulders on Tuesday.
A scrappy Premier League ceptional.” Meanwhile, former City defender Micah Richards did feel the forward could add more to his game.
“No one’s asking Erling Haaland to become a number 10, be like Harry Kane and play 30 to 40-yard balls,” he said.
“All they’re asking for is that game not helped by heavy rain was decided in the 80th minute by Justin Kluivert who finished well after good work by fellow substitute Antoine Semenyo.
Victory lifted Bournemouth above Chelsea into 11th place, just four points behind seventhplaced West Ham United.
After a fourth league game without a win, Palace are in 14th place with 30 points.
His general play is so poor, and not just today. I think he has to improve that, he’s almost like a League Two player. ROY KEANE
for somebody of his size, when the ball comes to him, can he just hold it up?
“Gabriel and [William] Saliba on Sunday, every time they got close to him they would use their strength and get the ball back. All people are asking for is to use his body more. We’re not asking him to be a [Dennis] Bergkamp.
“There are times when you’re not going to get an opportunity but you need to do other things to help the team out in terms of a build-up.”