Shay Given hails two ‘phenomenal’ Nottingham Forest players who were even better than Chris Wood vs Brighton

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Nottingham Forest bounced back from a 5-0 defeat to Bournemouth last weekend by smashing Brighton for seven at the City Ground in the Premier League.

The Reds have pulled level with Arsenal in second place and will now be daring to dream that a place in next season’s Champions League can be obtainable.

Chris Wood bagged a hat-trick yesterday. He scored once in the first half and twice in the second with Morgan Gibbs-White, Neco Williams and Jota Silva also getting among the goals.

Jude Bellingham was impressed with Wood. The Real Madrid star answered a Forest fan who was keen to get the world-class star’s view on the Reds’ leading goalscorer.

Forest played out a superb win and this was really all about the team’s performance. It was just the tonic after last weekend’s drubbing and Nuno Espirito Santo deserves a lot of praise.

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Shay Given raves about Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White

The performance of Wood naturally grabbed the headlines. He was in fine form for Forest scoring three goals but Given was impressed with the players who teed him up all afternoon.

Elanga and Gibbs-White were simply sensational throughout the clash. Both produced 10/10 displays and showcased that there is an awful lot to like about this Forest team.

Given was on pundit duties on Match of the Day. He was given the chance to wax lyrical about the Forest squad and picked out two players who really shone to the fore yesterday.

He said on Match of the Day: “Chris Wood will rightly get the plaudits but Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White behind him were just phenomenal. They ran the show, they ran Brighton ragged all day long. They always wanted the ball, they always wanted to go forward and they were so keen to get on the ball. It really was amazing, they were so confident on the ball.”

Morgan Gibbs-White stats vs Brighton

When the two sides met earlier in the season, Gibbs-White was sent off. Rob Jones showed him a second yellow card and ultimately, the game boiled over in frustration for the Reds player.

Clearly, he was in the mood to get some sort of retribution on the Seagulls yesterday. Gibbs-White was brilliant from minute one and finished the game with a goal to his name as well.

Forest have a real gem in the 25-year-old. Gibbs-White is an England international these days and he will hope to maintain his form and get picked under new head coach Thomas Tuchel.

Performances of this nature will definitely help him. Gibbs-White is enjoying a fine season in the Forest team and hopefully, he can maintain his form and guide Forest to glory on the pitch this season.