Leeds beat Forest to move well clear of relegation zone

Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his 10th Premier League goal of the season as hosts Leeds United claimed an emphatic 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest at Elland Road on Friday to move nine points clear of the relegation zone.

Leeds stay in 16th place in the standings as they move to 29 points from 25 games, while Forest are six points above the drop zone and have played a game more than 18th-placed West Ham United.

Jayden Bogle and Noah Okafor were also on target for Leeds in a dominant display as they took advantage of poor Forest defending, while the visitors netted a late consolation through new signing Lorenzo Lucca as he scored on his debut after coming off the bench.

“It was a massive win, you could see what it meant to everyone at the end, the players and the fans,” Bogle said.

“The mentality of the boys was unbelievable. We knew going into the game it was going to be a fight and horrible at times, but we showed our quality to dominate the game.

“It is a nice feeling but in this league anything can happen. We need to take it game-by-game.”

Leeds also struck the crossbar when Calvert-Lewin rose highest among a throng of bodies to head goalwards, but the ball crashed back off the woodwork.

They did not have to wait long after that to take the lead in the 26th minute after a superb pass from Ilia Gruev that allowed Bogle to beat the offside trap and pick out the bottom corner to score his first Premier League goal for the club.

It was 2-0 four minutes later as Leeds seized control of the contest when Okafor finished from 12 yards as Forest looked all at sea at the back again and James Justin picked out the Swiss forward to score.

The first half was a continuation of a frustrating theme for Forest this season – they have conceded 18 goals in the opening period in their 25 games. Only Burnley (23) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (21) have conceded more.

Things got worse for the visitors four minutes into the second half as Calvert-Lewin produced a clever finish off his chest from Gruev’s cross, the striker reaching double figures for goals this season.

Forest brought on tall Italian striker Lucca for his debut following a January move from Napoli, and he pulled a goal back in the 86th minute as he headed in Omari Hutchinson’s cross.

“It is disappointing, we wanted consistency in our performance after some good results,” Forest defender Nikola Milenkovic said. “It was difficult to come back, we tried but the third goal killed us.”