DOMINIC CALVERT-LEWIN HITS 10 GOALS AS LEEDS HAMMER NOTTINGHAM FOREST 3-1
Leeds United secured a vital 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest as Dominic Calvert-Lewin reached 10 goals to ease relegation fears.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin grabbed his 10th Premier League goal of the season as Leeds rolled past Nottingham Forest 3-1 and put some real distance between themselves and the drop zone—nine points, to be exact.
Calvert-Lewin, a summer pickup from Everton, almost scored with a bullet header in the first half that rattled the crossbar. He didn’t have to wait long, though. Just after halftime, he chested in Leeds’ third goal, capping off a quick surge after Jayden Bogle and Noah Okafor had already put Leeds in control by the break.
Forest did get a late goal—Lorenzo Lucca, coming off the bench for his club debut, nodded one in—but it only softened the scoreline as they slumped to their 13th league loss.
Leeds are still sitting 16th in the table, level on points with Crystal Palace and Tottenham, but more importantly, they’ve got a nine-point cushion over third-bottom West Ham, who still have to play struggling Burnley on Saturday.
Forest stay 17th, six points clear of West Ham. They’d won their last two away games and looked lively early, creating a few good chances.
But once Leeds went up in the 26th minute, the momentum never really shifted. The home fans pushed them on to a fifth win under the Elland Road lights and their sixth at home this season.
From the opening whistle, Leeds went straight at Forest. Zach Abbott, making his first Premier League start, almost sliced Gabriel Gudmundsson’s cross into his own net.
Forest looked dangerous on the break, though. After Leeds keeper Karl Darlow easily gathered a low shot from Callum Hudson-Odoi, he had to stretch to keep out a sharp effort from Nicolas Dominguez.
Igor Jesus headed wide as Forest started to find their feet, but then Calvert-Lewin’s header smashed off the bar.
Leeds took over with two goals in four minutes before the half-hour. First, Bogle timed his run perfectly to collect Ilia Gruev’s lofted pass and coolly slid the ball under Forest’s debut keeper, Stefan Ortega. Moments later, Ortega stopped a shot from James Justin, but Leeds kept the pressure on. The ball fell to Okafor, who tucked away his third goal of the campaign.
Forest nearly pulled one back before halftime when Darlow denied Morgan Gibbs-White with a strong save.
Leeds didn’t slow down after the break. In the 49th minute, Gruev had all the time he wanted on the right and whipped in a cross that Calvert-Lewin guided in with his chest—double digits for him this season.
Daniel James even got back on the pitch for Leeds, making his first appearance since November after a hamstring injury.
Forest kept fighting. Morato’s header went just wide, then Lucca finally broke through, heading in Omari Hutchinson’s cross in the 86th minute.
Darlow capped the night with one more save, tipping Ibrahim Sangare’s shot over the bar. By then, though, Forest were out of time.
DAVID MOYES HAILS "TERRIFIC" DEWSBURY-HALL AFTER VITAL CRAVEN COTTAGE VICTORY
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall redeemed his Brighton miss with a vital goal in Everton's 2-1 win at Fulham, keeping his promise to Moyes.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall made good on a promise he’d given David Moyes during the week, and his goal helped Everton pull off a comeback win at Fulham.
Last weekend at Brighton, Dewsbury-Hall blew a golden chance—he shot straight at Bart Verbruggen after Thierno Barry set him up perfectly. He told Moyes afterwards that he wouldn’t let it happen again.
At Craven Cottage, he kept his word. This time, when the ball fell to him in the box, he buried it and gave Everton the spark they needed for another solid win on the road.
Everton actually fell behind early. Vitalii Mykolenko’s own goal put Fulham up after Jordan Pickford managed to stop Raul Jimenez’s shot, only for the rebound to bounce off Mykolenko and in. That opened the door for a barrage from Fulham—Pickford had to make a couple of big saves, and both Emile Smith Rowe and Samuel Chukwueze clipped the woodwork. But Everton weathered it. Dewsbury-Hall led the charge, and his corner forced Bernd Leno into a mistake that ended up as Everton’s match-winner. They left with a 2-1 victory.
Dewsbury-Hall’s performance stood out—he’d looked sharp before hurting his hamstring at Chelsea back in December, and he’s only just getting back to his best. Moyes praised him after the game: “He’s brought something different to us. He’s been terrific. He’s nearly back to full fitness. He got about 90 minutes today, and he’s still working his way back from that hamstring injury at Stamford Bridge. He missed that big chance at Brighton, and today’s goal was almost a carbon copy. He told me this week, ‘If I get another one like that, I won’t miss it.’ And he didn’t.”
Because of a touchline ban from last week’s yellow card at Brighton, Moyes had to watch from the stands. Afterwards, he admitted Fulham edged the first half but didn’t think the gap was huge.
“I didn’t think we played well, but I don’t think we were terrible either,” he said. “We kept the ball alright for the first ten minutes, then made a couple of mistakes. The goal was just unlucky. Pickford made a great save; it bounces off Myko, what can you do?
“Fulham probably shaded the first half, but it wasn’t by much. We did well to keep it 1-0 at the break. Second half, I thought we were much better.”
WHY SCOTT PARKER IS UNDER INTENSE PRESSURE FOLLOWING BURNLEY’S 16TH LOSS
Scott Parker is facing a "Parker Out" mutiny after Burnley’s winless streak stretched to a historic 16 league games.
West Ham closed the gap to safety to just three points and shoved Burnley even closer to relegation with a 2-0 win that left parts of the Turf Moor crowd turning on Scott Parker.
Crysencio Summerville opened the scoring—his fifth game in a row with a goal—just 13 minutes in. Taty Castellanos made it two 13 minutes later. By then, it didn’t just feel like the match was over. It felt like Burnley’s whole season was done. They’re now 11 points behind 17th place.
Burnley haven’t won in 16 league games. That’s one short of their club record from way back in 1889-90. They had a big chance at home, facing a West Ham side that had only one win in their last ten away games. Still, Burnley couldn’t get anything going. West Ham left with a win and are now right on Nottingham Forest’s heels.
Plenty of Burnley fans have lost patience. Late in the first half, Jacob Bruun Larsen tried to rally the home crowd while warming up behind the goal. Instead, he got booed with chants of “You’re not fit to wear the shirt.” Then came, “We want Parker out.”
The frustration made sense. The first half was flat, and Burnley looked nowhere near good enough to claw their way out of trouble. West Ham scored with their first two shots.
Matheus Fernandes marched through midfield and slipped a simple ball to Summerville, who raced ahead and coolly flicked it over Martin Dubravka. That made Summerville the first West Ham player to score in five straight league games since Jesse Lingard in 2021.
A dozen minutes later, Summerville’s quick touch set up Diouf to cross, and Castellanos headed it home.
You’d think Burnley would have fancied their chances against West Ham. After blowing a 2-0 lead to lose at Chelsea last weekend, Nuno Espírito Santo benched Alphonse Areola and brought in Mads Hermansen in goal.
Axel Disasi, on loan from Chelsea and yet to play a minute before January, made his debut in place of the suspended Jean-Clair Todibo. The West Ham defence looked nervous dealing with crosses, but Burnley couldn’t take advantage.
Burnley didn’t even manage a shot on target until Florentino’s effort deflected into Hermansen’s hands in the 32nd minute. Marcus Edwards tried his luck with a curling shot, but it drifted just wide.
At least Burnley showed some fight after halftime. Zian Flemming’s header was blocked, then Hermansen turned aside Edwards’ shot.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka snuffed out another Edwards chance, and after the resulting corner, Hermansen stopped a Flemming header right on the line.
But that momentum fizzled out. Jarrod Bowen really should have ended it after breaking past Humphreys, but instead of shooting, he tried to set up Summerville.
Burnley have to be thinking about life in the Championship already. As for West Ham, they’ve given themselves a real shot at staying up.