Garth Crooks has named Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Keylor Navas in his BBC Sport Team of the Week. The Reds stopper was in fine form as the Reds claimed a point against champions Manchester City.
The pundit has been somewhat reluctant to name Forest players in his Team of the Week this season. On this occasion, however, he’s been unable to ignore the 110-time Costa Rica international.
Navas made several superb stops throughout the contest. Much like his debut against Leeds, he helped the team claim a big result on home soil and their City Ground form looks crucial.
The PSG stopper was a coup for Forest when they landed him on transfer deadline day. Forest thought they’d missed out on the stopper but instead, they sent shockwaves through the bottom half of the Premier League.
On Saturday, his form in the closing stages of the game was ridiculously good. As a result, Crooks was in no doubt as to which goalkeeper to include in his Team of the Week.
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He wrote in his BBC Sport article: “With 10 minutes left to play, Manchester City should have had this game at Forest done and dusted. Instead, they succumbed to a late equaliser and left the City Ground with one point in what was a lacklustre performance.
Much of the credit for Forest gaining a very valuable point must go to Navas. The Costa Rica international goalkeeper used everything at his disposal to keep City at bay. His fingertip save from Ilkay Gundogan’s free-kick was tremendous while the stop from Aymeric Laporte’s header, at point-blank range with his nether regions, was nothing short of heroic if not extremely painful. Navas has a top-class pedigree and Forest are lucky to have him.”
Navas named in Team of the Week
It’s remarkable that he’s played three games for the Reds and been named in the Team of the Week twice. City lost crucial ground on Arsenal in the title race and they desperately needed to beat Forest.
In fairness, they should have defeated the Reds. Several good chances went wayward, with Navas saving several and others seeing star players being guilty of missed chances.
Forest will take it though. You need a bit of luck in order to stay in the Premier League and the Reds will hope that this point becomes a big one in the grand scheme of things.
Neco Williams raved about him after the Leeds game earlier this month. He called him massive and lauded the career that he’s had.