Nigerian forward – Taiwo Awoniyi grabbed his fourth Premier League goal of the season during their Super Eagles Derby clash between Southampton and Nottingham Forest at St. Mary’s Stadium on Wednesday night.

Southampton came into the must-win game with a losing record in the last two of their league games since the World Cup’s conclusion and at the bottom of the Premier League.

The Joe Aribo and his teammates were hoping to move ahead of their rivals with a victory tonight and leave the relegation zone if other results go in their favor.

While Nottingham Forest came into this match off a thrilling 1-1 draw with Chelsea, though they haven’t had a league victory since their return to play.

The Steve Cooper team was aiming to secure a win that would help them move out of the relegation zone.

Barely 27 minutes into the match, Awoniyi scored the game’s opening goal after Southampton made a terrible error, giving Forest the lead.

Due to pressure, Lyanco stumbled and fumbled his pass. Johnson snatched the ball before sliding through to the Super Eagles player, who had an easy chore of flicking the ball into an empty net.

TAIWWWOOOO!!!!!! 😍 pic.twitter.com/Qc9HQZPnXR

— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) January 4, 2023

Only Erling Haaland (5) has scored the opening goal in more different Premier League games this season than Nottingham Forest’s Taiwo Awoniyi (4).

With the goal Forest ended the run of 576 mins (9 hours & 36 mins) without a Premier League away goal and Taiwo Awoniyi’s goal is only their 2nd away from home in EPL this season, 137 days since their previous away goal at Everton in August.

In the opening minutes of the encounter, both teams had scoring chances but Che Adams missed his opportunity while Brennan Johnson hit the crossbar as the goal from Taiwo Awoniyi was the difference at halftime.

Even worse, Southampton didn’t pose a serious danger after the early Adams attempt before Bella Kotchap picked up an injury.

While Joe Aribo was introduced in 64th minute of the Super Eagles Derby, Awoniyi was later replaced by Surridge in 70th minute due to injury as Forest held on to the slim win to secure all three points.

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