Nicolas Dominguez scored his first goal for 10-man Nottingham Forest as they held on for a 1-1 draw against Brentford at the City Ground.
Things looked bleak for Forest as they went down to 10 men just before the hour when Moussa Niakhate picked up a second yellow card, and immediately conceded to Christian Norgaard from the resulting free-kick.
But they rallied and Argentina international Dominguez levelled soon after with a looping header that Bees goalkeeper Mark Flekken appeared to misjudge.
Forest were able to see out the remaining 35 minutes with relative comfort to maintain their unbeaten start to the season on home soil.
The draw means Brentford have now gone five games without a win as their tricky start to the campaign continues.
There was a change to the match officials’ line-up after Darren England was dropped as fourth official following his mistake on Saturday night when, as VAR in Tottenham’s game against Liverpool, he failed to act properly in overturning the decision to rule out Luis Diaz’s goal for offside.
Craig Pawson was drafted in on the touchline and his colleagues in Stockley Park had an early test as Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi converted from close range after Willy Boly’s header from a corner.
He was immediately ruled offside but it was closer than it initially looked, with VAR Michael Oliver this time consulting the horizontal lines to confirm the decision.
The game could have done with that early goal standing as a drab first half followed, with nothing of interest happening until added time when a short free-kick routine saw Norgaard advance into the box but his deflected shot was palmed away by Matt Turner.
The second half immediately brought more entertainment as Brentford were close to taking the lead when Yoane Wissa closed down Turner and the ball trickled towards the net but Boly cleared.
Forest endured a chastening couple of minutes just before the hour that led to the Bees taking the lead.
Niakhate fouled Wissa, raking his studs up the back of his opponent’s leg, with referee Paul Tierney brandishing a second yellow card.
And from the resulting free-kick Norgaard got goalside and nodded Mathias Jensen’s delivery into the corner, with the goal surviving a lengthy review for offside.
Forest’s response was admirable, though, and they levelled eight minutes later as Harry Toffolo’s cross found Dominguez and his header looped over Flekken, with the goalkeeper appearing to pull his hand away as it went over him.
The final half-hour was an attack versus defence exercise as Brentford pushed to make their numerical advantage count, but they came up against a resolute Forest rearguard.
Morgan Gibbs-White produced a fine goal-saving tackle as the Bees broke at speed while debutant defender Murillo cleared off the line from Michael Olakigbe, with Norgaard firing over from the rebound.
Forest put bodies on the line to see out 13 minutes of injury time and earn a valuable point.
Declan Rice loss to blame for heavy West Ham defeats - David Moyes
Declan Rice's absence is to blame for a number of heavy West Ham defeats this season, according to manager David Moyes.
West Ham sold captain and influential midfielder Rice to Arsenal last July for a club-record fee rising to £105million with add-ons.
The Hammers have seen results nosedive since the turn of the year, most recently crashing to a 5-0 defeat away at Chelsea on Sunday.
That was the sixth time West Ham have conceded four or more goals away from home this season, and their fifth loss in six away games overall.
Asked at his post-match press conference exactly why his side are on the end of heavy losses so frequently of late, Moyes said: "Declan Rice."
The Scotsman, due to be out of contract next month, added: "You get the best midfield player in the country, protecting, making sure the moments and times you limit maybe 50 per cent of the attacks.
"It makes you a much better defensive team when you get that. We've lacked protection in front of the back four; we've lacked good enough defending; we've not been good enough on those things in many games.
"You've got to be careful. You're talking about a team sitting in a really, really strong position. We've had a couple of bad days away from home, which we have to try and eradicate and make better.
"I'm trying to put a bit of mental toughness when we need it. The teams I normally prepare would normally have it. You could always lose the way you lose."
West Ham have won just one of their past nine Premier League games, seeing them slip down to ninth place and now out of the top-six running.
United have also failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their past 16 in the competition - only the second time they have done so in a single Premier League season.
The poor run of form, which also includes elimination from the Europa League at the hands of a strong Bayer Leverkusen side, has raised doubts over Moyes' future at London Stadium.
Amid suggestions that former Real Madrid and Spain boss Julen Lopetegui has already been lined up, Moyes reiterated he will wait until after the season to hold talks over his future.
"I'm going to talk to the board at the end of the season, so we’ll do that then," he said.
Postecoglou: Spurs have a confidence problem to overcome
Ange Postecoglou says that Tottenham need to "overcome" their low confidence after suffering a 4-2 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.
Spurs slipped to their fourth consecutive Premier League defeat, being left to bemoan their slow start as they found themselves 4-0 down by the hour mark thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott.
Richarlison came off the bench to salvage some pride for Spurs, scoring one before setting up Son Heung-min for a goal on his 300th Premier League appearance.
Spurs had the opportunity to cut the gap to the top four after Aston Villa’s defeat to Brighton, but they remain seven points off a Champions League spot.
Postecoglou’s side still have a game in hand over the Villans, though he was sure that Spurs would be able to put their recent poor run behind them.
Asked if Spurs had a confidence problem, Postecoglou told Sky Sports: "Maybe in the front third there is.
"It probably is a bit of a lack of confidence, but again, that's something the guys have to work through.
"You have to find a way to overcome that because, ultimately, if you don't put pressure on the opposition in the front third after you've worked your way up there, they're going to get comfortable with their position."
Spurs have won just one of their last nine Premier League away games, failing to win any of the last five.
Despite that run extending at Anfield, Postecoglou highlighted what he thought was an improvement on their recent performances.
He continued: "Obviously a hugely disappointing outcome for us but at least we were more like ourselves today in terms of our football.
"Our last two away games at Newcastle and Chelsea, apart from the results which weren't great either, we just didn't try and play our football.
"I thought today, even in the first half, some of our football, our pressing was back to where it should be."
Roma 1-1 Juventus: Juve miss chance to close gap to second after draw with Roma
Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw at Roma on Sunday, missing the chance to close in on Milan in second place in Serie A.
Roma took the lead after 15 minutes when Romelu Lukaku found himself in the perfect position to tap in the rebound from a Bryan Cristante shot.
Bremer levelled with a header for Juventus just after the half-hour mark when Federico Chiesa picked him out inside the box from a corner.
Both sides had chances to find a winner in the final minutes, with Roma keeper Mile Svilar making a fingertip save to push Manuel Locatelli's volley over the bar.
Third-placed Juventus have 66 points, five fewer than Milan, who drew 3-3 with Genoa earlier on Sunday. Roma are fifth with 60 points.
Data Debrief: Leading from the back
Since scoring his first Serie A goal in the 2019-20 season, Bremer is the defender with the most headed goals in the Big-5 European leagues, netting 13 in total. Each of his last seven goals have been headers.
His goal was enough to earn Juventus a point today, but it means that they have drawn each of their last four in the competition - a first since February-March 2012 under Antonio Conte.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
