Nigeria International Taiwo Awoniyi scored in his seventh consecutive game in the Premier League in Nottingham Forest’s 3-2 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon, Reelradio.com.ng reports.
According to football statisticians OPTA, the Nigeria international has now matched Mohammed Stadium and Emmanuel Adebayor’s record for the longest-scoring streak by an African player in the English Premier League.
The former Union Berlin forward has also become the first Forest player to score in seven straight games.
Awoniyi got his goal in the second minute from a Morgan Gibbs-White’s pass and surged forward with speed before burying the ball past Andre Onana.
Things went from bad to worse for the Red Devils after a Morgan Gibbs-White set-piece was nodded in by Willy Boly, capping off a nightmare start for the hosts – the earliest they’ve ever trailed by two goals in premier league history.
Two goals down, Erik ten Hag’s men finally woke up and began to dominate the game as they went in search of a quick reply.
They got just that beyond the quarter-hour mark as Marcus Rashford, back on the left wing, showed his pace and power, driving towards the byline and cutting the ball into the box for Christian Eriksen to flick in. The home side were now in the driving seat, producing wave after wave of attack and they really should have been level but for a horrendous miss by Casemiro.
Eriksen’s corner evaded everyone in the box, leaving the Brazilian midfielder with an open goal two yards out but he somehow steered his header wide of the target, perhaps summing up his side’s poor start to the premier league campaign.
Ten Hag would have wanted his side to get off to a fast start in the second half, and the Dutchman got exactly that as Rashford superbly picked out Bruno Fernandes with a ball into the box, and the United captain laid the ball for Casemiro to fire home and make up for his earlier miss by grabbing the equaliser.
The game turned into an end-to-end affair with both sides looking dangerous on the counter, but the visitors’ afternoon took a sour turn as Joe Worrall was shown a red card for bringing Fernandes down after the Portugal international was through on goal.
Minutes later United were given a chance to complete the comeback after Rashford was brought down in the box by Danilo, and Fernandes made no mistake from the penalty spot to complete a phenomenal fightback.
