Forest felled as Albion make it three wins in four

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

Maxim De Cuyper and sub Stefanos Tzimas on target as Albion stay fifth after 2-0 win at the City Ground.

Bruce Talbot

2025-11-30T16:00+00:00

Sliding in: Maxim De Cuyper is delighted after putting Albion in front. 📷 James Boardman

Albion made it ten points from their last four games as they erased the memory of their last visit to the City Ground with an impressive win over Forest.

Maxim De Cuyper’s cool finish in first-half stoppage time gave the Seagulls a deserved lead which could have been even bigger had they taken some of the chances they created in the first 20 minutes.

Albion had more defending to do in the second half but they did it well and a couple of minutes from the end substitute Stefanos Tzimas capitalised on a mix-up at the heart of Forest’s defence to score his first Premier League goal.

Stefanos Tzimas celebrates in front of the away end after scoring his first Premier League goal. 📷James Boardman.

Albion are now fifth with back-to-back home games against Aston Villa and West Ham to come.

They made a great start and with a bit more composure with their final action would have scored a couple of goals in the first 20 minutes.

The tone was set inside a minute when Diego Gomez, back in central midfield, found Yankuba Minteh with a terrific pass which Minteh couldn’t quite bring under control with only Forest keeper Matz Sels in front of him.

Albion celebrate with goalscorer Maxim De Cuyper. 📷 James Boardman

De Cuyper and Gomez twice linked up but neither could find a finishing touch then Georginio Rutter’s shot was blocked on the line from Gomez’s pull-back.

Nikola Milenkovic got in the way of Mats Wieffer’s shot before Sels failed to gather De Cuyper’s cross but Neco Williams cleared Gomez’s shot off the line.

Forest finally roused themselves when the dangerous Morgan Gibbs-White produced a wonderful scissors kick after Nicolas Dominguez found him from left, but fortunately for Albion his effort was a yard wide of the post.

Maxim De Cuyper finishes off a fine move to put Albion ahead. 📷 James Boardman

Albion finally got the goal they deserved in first-half stoppage time. Rutter’s pass inside the box was elegantly dummied by Welbeck, who was making the 500th appearance of his club career, and De Cuyper, who had cut inside from the left again, applied a crisp right-foot finish from eight yards.

An injury forced Rutter off early in the second half with Jack Hinshelwood taking his place and Albion had a let-off when Gibbs-White met a corner with a goalbound volley that came off his teammate Ibrahim Sangare.

Jan Paul van Hecke only has eyes for the ball. 📷 James Boardman

Midway through the half both goalkeepers produced outstanding saves. Sels somehow denied Gomez at close range when he seemed certain to convert another excellent ball in from De Cuyper. Ferdi Kadioglu followed but his powerful drive was saved by the Forest keeper.

Forest swept forward and Bart Verbruggen saved Igor Jesus’s right-foot shot with his feet – the hosts’ clearest opportunity of an equaliser. In the closing stages Albion had to defend their box with organisation and courage.

Diego Gomez clears the danger at full stretch. 📷 James Boardman

But they were always a threat on the break and with two minutes to go Brajan Gruda dispossessed Morato on the edge of the box after a misunderstanding with Sels. Tzimas reacted quickest to stab the ball into the empty net before celebrating in front of 3028 Albion fans, for whom this journey back from Nottingham would have been a lot more pleasant.

Albion: Verbruggen, Wieffer, Dunk, van Hecke, De Cuyper (Baleba 84), Minteh (Gruda 84), Ayari, Gomez (Veltman 84), Kadioglu, Rutter (Hinshelwood 55), Welbeck (Tzimas 65).