Leeds United stormed to a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest to move nine points clear of the Premier League relegation zone on Friday night.
West Ham will hope to cut that gap when they go to Burnley on Saturday afternoon but this was a hugely significant victory for Leeds in their own relegation-battle six-pointer. It leaves fourth-bottom Forest looking over their shoulder.
A quickfire first-half double got Leeds on their way. First, Jayden Bogle sent Elland Road wild with his cool finish after Ilia Gruev’s super pass over the top found his excellent run. That was his first goal of the season. And just four minutes later, Noah Okafor doubled the delight with a close-range finish for his first strike since October.
Forest had seen a series of efforts saved by Karl Darlow before those goals and needed a fast start to the second half. But instead, Dominic Calvert-Lewin – who had earlier headed against the bar – chested in his 10th Premier League goal of the season four minutes after the break to all but end the contest.
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Noah Okafor doubles Leeds’ advantage over Forest!
Dan Ndoye prodded over and Morato, agonisingly, couldn’t nod home on the stretch as Forest tried to respond but they were fortunate Gruev didn’t add a Leeds fourth from a goalmouth scramble.
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Dominic Calvert-Lewin clever finish adds a third for rampant Leeds!
Debutant Lorenzo Lucca did eventually pull one back with a towering header on 86 minutes to create some anxiety in the final stages – and Darlow had to make a good stop deep into stoppage time to prevent Ibrahim Sangare grabbing another. But Leeds were able to celebrate a crucial three points when the final whistle came.
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Lorenzo Lucca pulls a goal back on Forest debut!
Forest’s unbeaten run of four games is over and they will now watch Burnley vs West Ham with some nervousness, given their six-point gap to the Hammers.
Leeds fans – who spent most of the night singing in the rain – can enjoy the weekend.
More to follow.
Story of the match in stats…
What’s coming up in the Premier League?
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com
