Nottingham Forest player ratings vs Everton: Morgan Gibbs-White exceptional but one man scores 10/10

Nottingham Forest player ratings vs Everton: Morgan Gibbs-White exceptional but one man scores 10/10

Matz Sels – 7

Another clean sheet for the Belgian but he had very little to do with it, with Everton firing their best chances wide of his goal.

 

Ola Aina – 7

Aina had the task of defending against Everton’s brightest attacking talent in Iliman Ndiaye but held his own, winning all of his attempted tackles.

 

Morato – 8

After Murillo’s injury, Espirito Santo reverted back to a back four, which put extra pressure on Morato’s performance. The Brazilian was excellent, though, producing a remarkable seven headed clearances in the first half alone.Ryan Yates was suspended after Tottenham due to picking up a fifth yellow card, leaving the Forest manager with a dilemma ahead of the Everton clash that was made even worse when Murillo was injured in the warm-up.

 

However, this setback clearly didn’t impact the Forest squad as they took an early lead. Morgan Gibbs-White found Chris Wood, who combined with Anthony Elanga before deftly chipping over Jordan Pickford.

 

The second half saw a trademark Forest counterattack seal the three points for Forest, with Wood finding Gibbs-White who finished expertly past Pickford.Nottingham Forest travelled to Everton in their last Premier League fixture of 2024, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side looking to go into the new year in the top four.

 

Espirito Santo’s side have had a strong festive period, picking up maximum points in their two games over Christmas. Forest beat Brentford on the 21st December, which was followed up by Forest’s 1-0 win over Tottenham.Nikola Milenkovic – 7

Perhaps as a result of the late change, the Everton strikers targetted Morato more which gave Milenkovic a quieter afternoon than his partner. He was as strong as ever in the second half though as the hosts put on numerous attackers to try and force their way back into the game.

 

Neco Williams – 8

The Welshman’s form at left back continued as he didn’t put a foot wrong up against Jack Harrison, dominating both on the ground and aerially.