Luke Berry’s 89th-minute equaliser rescued a point for Luton Town against fellow relegation rivals Nottingham Forest in a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road.
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Chris Wood gave Forest the lead in the first half, but they failed to take their chances in the second half and were punished late on through second-half substitute Luke Berry.
Forest missed out on the chance to move six points clear of the drop zone as the sides are still separated by three points.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 |
Everton
EVE
|
38 | -11 | 40 |
| 16 |
Brentford
BRE
|
38 | -9 | 39 |
| 17 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
38 | -18 | 32 |
| 18 |
Luton
LUT
|
38 | -33 | 26 |
| 19 |
Burnley
BUR
|
38 | -37 | 24 |
| 20 |
Sheffield Utd
SHU
|
38 | -69 | 16 |
How the match unfolded
Rob Edwards dropped central defender Daiki Hashioka for Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, while after their loss to Brighton & Hove Albion, Nuno Espirito Santo opted for three changes, with Willy Boly, Ibrahim Sangare and Anthony Elanga all coming in.
Luton started on the front foot as Ross Barkley forced two saves from Matz Sels before hitting the right post with a shot in the 12th minute.
Divock Origi was played through on goal at the other end for Forest, but his attempt to chip Thomas Kaminski did not have enough power to reach the goal. The Belgian striker went close again just after the half-hour when Elanga found him unmarked in the box, but his shot was cleared brilliantly off the line by Reece Burke.
Forest did take the lead after 34 minutes through Wood, who did well to stretch to volley in Morgan Gibbs-White’s clever dinked cross and bring up his 150th goal in English league football.
Luton thought they equalised before the break through Teden Mengi, but the goal was disallowed because the Luton defender had handled the ball before scoring.
Gibbs-White went close to doubling Forest’s lead inside the first minute of the second half, but Kaminski did well to close him down and save his shot.
Forest continued to be the more dangerous side as Elanga had an effort cleared off the line by a backtracking Mengi.
Murillo almost produced a goal-of-the-season contender after 62 minutes when he went for goal from a free-kick inside his own half, but Kaminski was able to scramble back to his line and tip the ball out for a corner.
Luton started to put Forest under pressure in the final 10 minutes of the match and found an equaliser in the 89th minute as Burke got on the end of Barkley’s corner and headed the ball into the path of Berry, who smashed it past Sels.
It is the sixth time this season that Luton have equalised after going a goal down and the 19th time Forest have conceded from a set-piece, the most in the league this season.
Ryan Yates almost scored a brilliant half-volley in the seventh minute of stoppage time to steal all three points for Forest, but his strike went just wide of the right post.
Luton remain 18th on 22 points and Forest are still one place above in 17th on 25 points.
Club reports
Next Premier League fixtures
Key facts
Luton are unbeaten in their last five league games against Nottingham Forest (W2 D3), having lost five of six against them before this (W1).
Nottingham Forest lost their last away league game against Luton 1-0 in April 2022, while they also lost on their last top-flight visit to Kenilworth Road in April 1992 (1-2).
Nottingham Forest have won just one of their last 18 Premier League games against promoted sides (D11 L6), beating Sheffield United 2-1 earlier this season. Away from home, they’ve drawn eight of their last nine such games, losing the other at Fulham last term.
Luton have lost six of their last eight Premier League home games (W2), including each of the last three in a row. They last lost more consecutive league games at Kenilworth Road in April 2015 in League Two (4), while they last did so in the top-flight in February 1984 (4).
