Nottingham Forest kicked off their Premier League campaign with an emphatic 3-1 victory over Brentford at the City Ground on Sunday.
Chris Wood, who netted 20 league goals last season, put Forest ahead in five minutes of play.
Forest doubled their lead three minutes before half-time when Swiss debutant Dan Ndoye met Morgan Gibbs-White’s sublime chipped pass with a powerful header.
In stoppage time, Elliot Anderson punished a loose pass from Sepp van den Berg, slipping Wood through to round Caoimhin Kelleher and slot home for his second of the game.
Brentford rarely threatened, though Brazilian striker Igor Thiago grabbed a consolation from the penalty spot in the 78th minute after Ibrahim Sangare handled inside the box.
The win marked Forest’s first victory in a season opener since 2017-18 and gave manager Nuno Espirito Santo reason to be pleased.
“Expectations were high, but the performance was really good, and we are very pleased,” Nuno told Sky Sports. “I was delighted with how the team defended. That is always our main focus.”
For Brentford, it was a sobering debut for new boss Keith Andrews.
“The game was pretty much done at half-time, and I didn’t like a lot of what I saw in the first half,” he admitted. “Ball losses in critical areas cost us. There was a naivety I felt in some cases.”
