Wood climbs to extend the Forest fairytale

It is impossible to avoid the sense that something special is stirring on the banks of the Trent. Nottingham Forest averted a late scare to dispatch Southampton, move level on points with Arsenal in second place and extend their unbeaten run to eight Premier League matches.

- Ben Fisher

Forest roared into a 3-0 lead inside 41 minutes but the visitors pulled a goal back via Jan Bednarek on the hour and then Paul Onuachu headed in his first Southampton goal at the start of second-half stoppage time to tee up a grandstand finish. A few minutes later Ola Aina cleared a Bednarek header off the line from another corner.

"We have been talking about how competitive this league is: you can't ever underestimate [an opponent] or think the game is over," said the Forest head coach, Nuno Espírito Santo. "It was a warning for everybody to realise this league is tough."

So Saints, who led for 82 minutes at Old Trafford before collapsing on Thursday, showed some guts though it is now five defeats from five under Ivan Juric. Few would have envisaged the finale that played out after a fourth Forest goal was disallowed by the referee, Anthony Taylor. Aaron Ramsdale fumbled Nikola Milenkovic's header into his own net but an offside Chris Wood was deemed to have been interfering with play.