TAIWO Awoniyi scored the opening goal for Nottingham Forest in their dramatic 3-2 defeat at Manchester United today as his Super Eagles teammate Calvin Bassey was sent off for Fulham against Arsenal in Premier League clashes.
The Nigeria international broke free from his own half and ran the length of the pitch before slotting past Andre Onana in United’s goal to give Forest a shock lead at Old Trafford.
With the second minute strike, Awoniyi has scored in seven straight Premier League appearances for Forest, which is the longest run of scoring for a player in the club’s history.
Awoniyi is also the third African player to score in seven successive Premier League games, after Emmanuel Adebayor and Mohamed Salah.
Forest extended their lead two minutes later with Willy Boly’s header off a corner kick, leaving United’s long unbeaten home streak in danger.
The Red Devils however struck back, first through Christian Eriksen’s close-range finish in the 17th minute, and then with two goals after the break.
Casemiro finished off a well worked free-kick routine seven minutes after the restart to pull United level, and Forest were reduced to 10 following Joe Worrall’s red card in the 67th minute.
Bruno Fernandes netted from the penalty spot with 14 minutes left of normal time as United took their unbeaten run in home games to 31, which is a new record for Erik ten Hag as a manager.
The Dutchman has beaten his previous best of 30 games unbeaten, which he achieved as manager of Utrecht and Ajax between 2017 and 2019.
Manchester United are also now unbeaten in each of their last 20 Premier League games at Old Trafford.
At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal also went behind early, conceding to Fulham inside the first minute through Andreas Pereira.
The Gunners turned it around and were 2-1 when they scored twice in two minutes, first via Bukayo Saka’s penalty in the 70th minute and then substitute Eddie Nketiah’s strike.
Bassey, who joined Fulham from Rangers this season, was dismissed for a second booking in the 83rd minute but the visitors stunned Arsenal four minutes later through Joao Paulinha to earn a draw.
In another Premier League clash this afternoon, Nigeria midfielder Alex Iwobi was unavailable for Everton due to injury as they slumped to a 1-0 home defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Substitute Sasa Kalajdzic netted the game’s only goal in the 87th minute as Everton recorded zero goals and zero points after three games for the first time in their history.
At the Brentford Community Stadium, Super Eagles midfielder Frank Onyeka was a 72nd minute substitute for Brentford as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Crystal Palace.
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