Nottingham Forest put up a solid performance with Taiwo Awoniyi on the pitch, but they fell apart once he left….
Super Eagles striker Taiwo Awoniyi got his first Premier League start of the season in Nottingham Forest’s 3-0 loss to Chelsea at the City Ground, Soccernet.ng reports.
Coach Ange Postecoglou named a surprising lineup when his Forest side welcomed Chelsea in the opening Premier League game of the weekend. Awoniyi was the biggest gainer, as he got his first minutes of the Premier League season.
Before the game, Postecoglou was under fire due to his poor start to life with the Tricky Trees, and they needed to get something against a Chelsea side that were struggling to win games.
It was almost a dream start for Awoniyi, as he got an early sniff at goal. The Super Eagles star latched onto a poor pass from a Chelsea player and got through on goal, but he contrived to drag his effort wide.
Chelsea struggled to create anything solid in the final third in the opening 20 minutes of the game. But the Tricky Trees had two good looks which they failed to score from.
Asides from his early miss, Awoniyi had a really solid first half. He put the Chelsea defenders under a lot of pressure and his hold-up play was also good. But he failed to score, as the first half eventually ended goalless.
More to follow…