SHOCK: RAUL JIMENEZ PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD: DISCOVER FOREST’S RELEGATION NIGHTMARE AFTER FULHAM LOSS
Raul Jimenez equals a Premier League record as Fulham sink Nottingham Forest. Discover the truth about Douglas Luiz's error.
Raul Jimenez reminded Nottingham Forest that they still have work to do to avoid relegation.
After Sean Dyche took over, Forest grabbed 13 points in their first eight Premier League matches, calming nerves.
But his team played poorly here. Fulham, even playing better lately, still lost matches, and Jimenez scored a penalty in stoppage time of the first half, getting the win and moving Marco Silva's team up to 13th place.
Matt Barlow from Daily Mail Sport checks out the main things from the game...
BRAZILIANS ON THE PITCH
Carlo Ancelotti's assistant, Paul Clement, was watching the game. He was keeping an eye on the five Brazilian players who started. Four played for Forest, and Kevin played left wing for Fulham.
Jimenez's penalty gave Fulham the win against Nottingham Forest.
Fulham did enough to win on Monday, even though they have played better and lost lately.
Sean Dyche can't think the relegation battle is over.
There were as many Brazilian players as English players. But there were two English No. 10s playing. This shows that Premier League academies might be making too many technical players and not enough of everything else.
Morgan Gibbs-White played No. 10 for Forest, with wingers Callum Hudson-Odoi and Omari Hutchinson and Elliot Anderson in midfield with Douglas Luiz; that's six Anglo-Brazilian players up front.
Emile Smith Rowe was the only English player for Fulham, who started a team with 11 different nationalities.
Things haven't gone well for Douglas Luiz since he came back to the Premier League, on loan to Forest from Juventus. He was one of the players Edu thought caused problems between owner Evangelos Marinakis and Nuno Espirito Santo, the coach who got them back into Europe.
After Nuno left, Luiz was out with an injury. He returned to the team as Ibrahim Sangare was playing for the Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Then, he gave away a penalty after kicking Kevin from behind.
It was a soft penalty. Kevin acted like it was worse than it was. Forest complained, but the ref wasn't going to change his mind.
They spent two minutes arguing about it. John Victor was booked for slowing things down even more. Finally, in the fifth minute of added time, Raul Jimenez scored his third Premier League goal of the season from the only shot on target in a bad first half.
Douglas Luiz gave away a penalty and is having a tough time in Nottingham.
Jimenez is still great at playing centre forward. He is 34 and isn't getting much rest because Rodrigo Muniz is injured. But he always bothers the defenders and is a threat in the air.
He missed two good chances. In the first half, he headed an Antonee Robinson cross into the side netting from close range. He missed another one at the end of the game.
KEVIN IS STRUGGLING.
Fulham paid £34.6 million for Kevin. Right now, it's not looking good. Samuel Chukwueze is at the AFCON with Nigeria, so this was Kevin's chance to get used to the team, get used to how fast the English game is, and do well.
He got the penalty because he was quick and didn't give up. But he was often frustrating. The home crowd was annoyed because moves would break down because of bad passes and decisions. The away fans were annoyed because he kept falling and rolling around.
Kevin is only 22 and has talent. But his struggles remind people of other wingers who couldn't get used to the Premier League after playing in Ukraine, like Mykhailo Mudryk and Manor Solomon.
The fans were happy when Josh King replaced him at the end.
Kevin is Fulham's most expensive signing and got a penalty, but he is still struggling.
FOREST RESPONDS
Neco Williams got Forest's first shot on target early in the second half. But it was an easy save for Bernd Leno.
The visitors played better after the break and took shots from far away. But they couldn't get through Fulham's defence, which was led by Joachim Andersen and Jorge Cuenca, who was filling in for Calvin Bassey.
Maybe Nikola Milenkovic was trying to get his team going when he got in Cuenca's face at the end. It didn't help.
AWONIYI DOUBLE LEAVES NOTTINGHAM FOREST ON THE VERGE OF PREMIER LEAGUE SAFETY
Nottingham Forest moved closer to safety with a 3-1 win over Chelsea, while West Ham fell into the relegation zone after Spurs won.
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Nottingham Forest came out of the weekend looking pretty safe after pulling off an impressive 3-1 win at Chelsea. They’re almost clear of the relegation mess. Tottenham’s big away win at Aston Villa shook things up too, and now West Ham are back in the bottom three, running out of time faster than ever.
Forest have stepped up just when they needed to, leaving West Ham and Tottenham behind with a string of solid performances. Honestly, no one saw this coming, especially since Vitor Pereira shuffled his lineup with eight changes, fresh off a Europa League win against Aston Villa.
Even so, Forest were ahead within 90 seconds, thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s quick strike. By the 15th minute, Igor Jesus calmly buried a penalty after Malo Gusto’s reckless foul in the box. Chelsea had a chance to get back in it, but Cole Palmer wasted a penalty right before the break after a scary head collision involving Jesse Derry.
Awoniyi doubled down and scored again early in the second half, pushing Forest six points ahead of West Ham with just three games left.
West Ham’s weekend started badly; they looked flat and lost to Brentford. Things got worse Sunday night when Tottenham pulled off their first back-to-back Premier League wins since August 2025, beating a heavily rotated Aston Villa side 2-1.
Forest is now out of West Ham’s reach, or almost. Tottenham’s still close enough for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team to worry, but with three tough games coming up, Spurs could stay up even without another win, unless West Ham digs deep and pulls off something unexpected before their home finale against Leeds.
Right now, Forest can practically taste safety. Spurs finally see a way out after weeks of struggle. As for West Ham, they’re left hoping for a miracle, a last-minute twist to dodge the drop.
CESC FABREGAS CONFIRMS INTEREST IN PREMIER LEAGUE RETURN AMID CHELSEA'S MANAGER SEARCH
As Chelsea searches for a new manager, Cesc Fabregas breaks his silence on his future at Como and his Premier League ambitions.
Cesc Fabregas recalls exactly how a conversation with Jose Mourinho prompted him to join Chelsea, despite having the opportunity to return to Arsenal.
After winning six trophies in just three seasons, the Spanish World Cup winner left Barcelona for the second time in 2014. That summer, Fabregas made a move back to the Premier League, signing with Chelsea for about €33 million.
He already knew English football well. Fabregas had arrived at Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona in 2003 and made 212 Premier League appearances for them. When he decided to leave Barcelona, Manchester City also wanted him, but Chelsea convinced him, mostly thanks to Mourinho.
Talking with talkSPORT’s Rory Jennings on YouTube, Fabregas laid out how it all happened. “Honestly, when I made up my mind to leave Barcelona, my first thought was just to go back to Arsenal. They had this buyback clause; they had two weeks to use it after I told them I was leaving. They knew about it but didn’t take it. That surprised me a little, but in the end, I had to think about my career. I was 27, at the peak of my career, and I wanted to continue performing and winning trophies. City and Chelsea were both options.
“But when Mourinho spoke to me, that was it. He showed me his plans for the team and told me about Diego Costa, Courtois, and Filipe Luis and how, with those guys, we’d win the league. He was right, by the way. We won both the Premier League and the Carling Cup.”
Fabregas wasted no time winning over Chelsea fans. On his debut at Burnley, he set up two goals, including a stunning assist for Andre Schurrle. He finished his first season at Chelsea with five goals and 24 assists, along with Premier League and League Cup medals.
Things dipped the next season. Fabregas got just 15 goal contributions, and Chelsea slipped all the way to tenth. But when Antonio Conte took charge in 2016-17, they bounced back, and Fabregas picked up another league title.
He added an FA Cup win in 2018, his second, after his earlier one with Arsenal, and left for Monaco a few months later. His last Chelsea match came in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest. When he got subbed off, he couldn’t hold back tears.
Chelsea supporters still sing about him; that “Oh, Fabregas is magic...” chant sticks around. And with his name in the conversation for a possible return, maybe they haven’t seen the last of him yet.
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