Nottingham Forest edge Leeds as pressure mounts on Marsch

Nottingham Forest grabbed huge three points as they narrowly beat Leeds United 1-0 at the City Ground on Sunday afternoon.

Brennan Johnson scored the game’s only goal as the result piles mounting pressure on Leeds manager Jesse Marsch.

Forest go five unbeaten

While Forest are now unbeaten in five, Leeds have now lost three consecutive games and are staring right down at the barrel.

Marsch’s side are winless in five and are flirting with relegation sitting in 17^th place with 18 points, the same as Everton a place blow having played a game less.

Leeds, however, continued to press their hosts in search of an equalizer and they almost restored parity just ten minutes before halftime.

Navas makes his debut

Debutant and new signing Keylor Navas kept Luke Ayling’s powerful shot at bay to keep preserve his side’s lead.

The 36-year-old custodian signed on loan from PSG on deadline day once again denied Wilfried Gnoto minutes later as Forest went into halftime with the slender advantage.

Much of the same continued after the restart as Forest were pinned back by Leeds but despite carrying a significant goal threat, Leeds came up short time and again with the final ball.

However, Steve Cooper’s side buoyed by their home support grew into the game and kept their shape and defensive discipline to keep their opponent at bay.

Leeds had the lion’s share of possession but had nothing to show for as they hardly tested Navas in the second half. Forest held on to claim three important points in their quest to stay afloat in the Premier League.

For Marsch and co, the signs look ominous as they face Manchester United twice, next, in a span of 4 days.

Gibbs-White praised his team’s mentality after the win saying, “It’s massive. All the work we did in the week, was massive … we knew today was going to be a massive fight, Leeds were very tough today, a strong side … but I feel like we fought back, and got the better of them. And we got the three points in the end.”

Photo credit: IMAGO / PA Images