Nottingham Forest bounced back from back-to-back defeats by beating Luton Town 2-1 at Kenilworth Road to move back into the play-off places.
The Reds looked back to their best against the Hatters and in truth should’ve won the game more comfortably than they did.
Sabri Lamouchi opted to ring three changes from the team that lost to Hull City over a week ago and it paid dividends.
One change that he did make was in midfield. The Reds boss opted to start Ryan Yates in place of João Carvalho, with the academy graduate making his first start of the campaign.
The 21-year-old impressed with his performance throughout the game and certainly made Ben Watson look more comfortable.
Considering he has only just returned from injury, the midfielder’s performance was remarkable. To last the entire 90 minutes after such a lengthy spell on the sidelines is very impressive.
It clearly showed that he is more than capable of retaining his place in the starting line-up this season. The likes of Carvalho will have to up their game if he wants to force his way back in the side ahead of Yates.
Following his first start, Forest fans took to Twitter to remark on Yates’ performance at Kenilworth Road:
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