Jimenez’s penalty ends Forest’s unbeaten start to the season

Fulham ended Nottingham Forest’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season with a hard-fought 1-0 win at the City Ground.

There was little choice between two teams separated by just a point at kick-off, but Raul Jimenez’s second-half penalty, awarded for Murillo’s foul on Andreas Pereira, proved crucial.

Forest got off to a bright start when Taiwo Awoniyi missed an early chance, while Chris Wood saw a potential opener disallowed for offside in the 25th minute, with a VAR review confirming on-field referee Joshua Smith’s decision .

However, without the suspended Morgan Gibbs-White, Nuno Espirito Santo’s team failed to find the spark as Fulham’s impressive start to the 2024/25 season continued.

The result leaves Forest ninth in the table with nine points, while Fulham overtake their hosts to move up to sixth with 11 points.

How the game developed

It was Forest who had the first chance after a quiet opening when Awoniyi – in his first start of the season – shot wide after a long throw caused chaos in the Fulham penalty area.

Wood then thought he had given the hosts the lead but his shot, which crept just over the line, was disallowed for offside and a VAR check confirmed the decision.

Almost immediately after the restart, another VAR review resulted in Murillo being penalized for stepping on Pereira’s foot. Jimenez made no mistake from the penalty spot, scoring the top right corner for his 50th Premier League goal.

As Forest watched the game, Nuno introduced Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi, and the latter almost found the top right corner after a slalom run into the box.

It was a nervy finish for Fulham, but they held on for eight minutes of stoppage time and survived a late siege of their penalty area to take three vital points.

Nuno’s changes fail

With Gibbs-White suspended following his red card at Brighton last week, Forest boss Nuno was forced to make attacking changes.

He opted for the added physical presence of Awoniyi, who worked with top scorer Wood in a two-pronged attack to unsettle the Fulham defense. Things worked to some extent in the early stages, with a number of set pieces causing problems for the visitors.

Unfortunately for Forest, however, it appeared that Awoniyi’s inclusion prevented Wood from playing his natural game, reflected in the fact that he only touched the ball five times in the entire first half.

Awoniyi was replaced by Elanga immediately after the break as the hosts looked to add more dynamism to the game, but it was Fulham who made the breakthrough before producing a resolute defensive performance.

Despite a positive start to the new season, Forest have now gone six games without a win on home soil and things won’t be much easier for them next time out when they take on in-form Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Fulham are flying high

Marco Silva will have been pleased to see Fulham continue their strong form against a side who went into the game as one of just four unbeaten sides in the Premier League.

The away team had to work hard for the win and were not at their best, but Jimenez – who also scored the opening goal against Newcastle United last week – was there again to secure the points.

Adama Traore, Emile Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi have all impressed behind Jimenez this season.

But it was their defense that earned the plaudits against Forest, turning away everything that was thrown at them.

Fulham have only conceded five goals this season but they face a big test in their next game when they take on champions Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

Club reports

Nott’m Forest report | Fulham report

What the manager said

Nuno Espirito Santo: “Looking back, it’s frustrating and disappointing. The first half wasn’t that good. The game was even. Unfortunately we conceded a goal in the second half and it became difficult.”

Marco Silva: “It’s great to see him (Jimenez) back at this level after that bad incident at Wolves. It was hard for him to come back.”

Next Premier League games

Important facts

Raul Jimenez has scored in each of his last three Premier League games for Fulham; This is the second time he has achieved this in the competition, having done so for Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 2019.

Nottingham Forest have failed to win any of their last six league games at the City Ground (D3 L3); Their longest such streak since September 2021 in the Championship (8 games – D2 L6).

Fulham’s 11 points from their first six games this season (3 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss) is their highest total at the start of a top season after 2002/03 and 2003/04.

Raúl Jiménez has scored all eight penalties he has taken in the Premier League, only Yaya Touré (11/11), Cole Palmer (10/10) and Dimitar Berbatov (9/9) have a better one in the history of the competition 100 percent recovery rate.