Nottingham Forest’s hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League took another hit after being held to a 2-2 draw by already-relegated Midlands rivals Leicester City. Forest have now won just once in their last six Premier League games.
With Newcastle United beating Chelsea earlier in the day, Forest had the chance to move back into the top five with a win. They started the game strongly, with Anthony Elanga crossing twice for Chris Wood. However, Wood missed both chances — one a clear header at the back post — and failed to make the most of the early pressure.
Forest were punished just after 15 minutes. Leicester built up pressure, and from a long throw, the ball eventually fell to Bilal El Khannouss. His powerful shot was parried by Matz Sels, but Conor Coady reacted quickly to head in the rebound, scoring his first Premier League goal since October 2022.
The City Ground was silenced — and with reason. Forest had only managed one win from ten league games where they had conceded first this season.
Forest looked to Elanga for inspiration, and he delivered. His free-kick from the right was met by Morgan Gibbs-White, who headed the ball into the ground and across the goal into the far corner, making it 1-1. It was Forest’s 16th goal from a set-piece this season — one of the highest in the league.
Forest nearly took the lead before half-time, but Nicolas Dominguez’s shot was brilliantly saved by Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk.
Forest started the second half well and kept pushing for a second goal. Dominguez had a header saved, but eventually, Chris Wood made up for his earlier misses. He scored with a diving header at the back post after a perfect cross from Gibbs-White. That goal marked his 100th Premier League goal involvement and his 20th goal of the season.
Leicester hadn’t offered much threat in the second half, but with 10 minutes to go, they stunned the home side. Facundo Buonanotte picked up a loose ball outside the box, dribbled past Morato, and calmly slotted the ball into the net to make it 2-2.
Forest couldn’t find a late winner after that. In fact, they nearly lost the game completely, as Sels had to make a brilliant save to stop Jeremy Monga from scoring in the final moments.
The result means Forest miss the chance to do the league double over Leicester for the first time since the 1994/95 season. They now sit one point outside the top five with only two matches left to play.
