Brentford 0-2 Nottm Forest: Igor Jesus, Taiwo Awoniyi earn Forest crucial victory in relegation fight
Report and free match highlights as goals in either half from Igor Jesus and Taiwo Awoniyi earn Nottingham Forest crucial three points in relegation fight with 2-0 win at Brentford, who had lost once at home all season; Bees lose Mikkel Damsgaard and Kristoffer Ajer to first-half injuries
Sunday 25 January 2026 17:13, UK
Goals in either half from Igor Jesus and Taiwo Awoniyi saw Nottingham Forest restore their five-point gap above resurgent West Ham and the Premier League relegation zone with a potentially vital 2-0 win at Brentford.
Sean Dyche joins Pep Guardiola as just the second visiting manager to win at the Gtech Community Stadium this season with a victory underpinned by his side's defensive showing following Jesus' early opener, with Awoniyi securing the points on the break 10 minutes from time.
In the battle of two Brazilian Igors in attack, it was the unfancied Jesus who won the day with his first league goal since December 3. His superb chest and finish after 12 minutes acted as a springboard for Forest, who could easily have gone on to double their advantage in a dominant opening half hour.
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Once their momentum faded Brentford had a number of chances to level, with Dango Ouattara - an early substitute for the injured Mikkel Damsgaard - denied by Matz Sels when he should have equalised.
Sepp van den Berg, another first-half introduction after Kristoffer Ajer was forced off, almost levelled on the stroke of half-time from a long throw but nodded just past the near post.
Forest dropped further and further back as Brentford's mounting pressure continued after half-time but, as chances failed to materialise, the hosts' belief visibly seeped away as time began to run out to save their fine home form.
Instead, Forest showed the clinical touch they had lacked as substitute Awoniyi turned their only touch in the opposition box of the second half into a second goal 10 minutes from time after outpacing Van den Berg on the break.
On a day which began with the Bees holding hope of cementing their European push, they instead remain outside the top seven and will drop to ninth if Everton beat Leeds on Monday Night Football.
Dyche thrilled with Forest form
Nottm Forest head coach Sean Dyche to Sky Sports:
"You've got to find different ways to win, we had a bit more control with the ball in the first half and we had to defend resolutely which we did.
"Seven points from three games is a good return, especially two away and a draw at home to the league leaders.
"All the sides want a striker who's scoring, they've certainly got one - but I'm pleased with those guys. They've worked really hard, the whole group has."
Andrews: Forest got the game they wanted
Brentford head coach Keith Andrews to Sky Sports:
"The way we conceded the goals doesn't sit well with me. We controlled large parts of the game, although we lost our way a bit after conceding the first. For large parts of the game I was content but you can't concede goals like that.
"Forest got the game they wanted, able to sit in and hit on the counter. I was pleased with two-thirds of the performance but we live and die by results. We need to be more clinical in both sides of the game."
Analysis: Forest weren't pretty - but fully deserved victory
Sky Sports' Ron Walker at the Gtech Community Stadium:
"As Rob Green put it, Nottingham Forest were unspectacular but effective. At the moment, that will do with West Ham breathing down their necks and the relegation zone looming all too large.
"A stunning pair of performances from Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic, who seemed to find themselves on the end of every one of Brentford's 35 crosses into the box, underpinned a victory which owed everything to hard work and two moments of quality when it really mattered.
"The timing of those goals, book-ending the game as they did, could not have been much better and showed up a Brentford attack which laboured but had few ideas to combat the visitors' low block.
"In defence of Keith Andrews, his cause was not aided by the loss of creative lynchpin Damsgaard before half-time, but even without him the hosts ran out of ideas long before full-time.
"Ultimately, though the manner of Forest's victory was far from pretty Andrews can have few complaints on a day when Sels had one save to make across 90 minutes."
