By Lori Ewing
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -Nottingham Forest maintained their Champions League push with a comfortable 4-2 win at Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Saturday as champions Manchester City could only muster a 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Everton stretched their unbeaten league run to nine games with a 1-1 draw against West Ham United while Wolverhampton Wanderers beat bottom side Southampton 2-1 to take a giant step towards Premier League survival, and Brentford beat Bournemouth 2-1 in a mid-table clash.
Anthony Elanga struck twice for Forest, who consolidated third place in the table on 54 points, five ahead of Chelsea, who have a game in hand and visit second-placed Arsenal on Sunday, and six points clear of City whose draw left them fifth.
Forest, who were involved in relegation battles in the last two seasons, struck three times in a frantic seven-minute spell in the first half, kicked off by a fierce strike from defender Nikola Milenkovic.
Elanga netted a curling effort two minutes later, and immediately doubled his tally when he latched onto a long ball from Milenkovic and squeezed his shot under goalkeeper Alex Palmer.
“We got this moment right,” Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo said. “We got Ipswich unbalanced and we took advantage of it.”
Jens Cajuste pulled one back in the 82nd minute to briefly give home fans hope, but Jota Silva quickly crushed it with another Forest goal before George Hirst claimed a consolation for Ipswich in added time.
“Ipswich were always going to react, important that we got the fourth goal, that really put the game to bed in that moment,” Espirito Santo said.
Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush struck for Pep Guardiola’s men, either side of a goal for Brighton’s Pervis Estupinan, while Brighton equalised for the second time with a second-half own goal by City defender Abdukodir Khusanov.
‘VERY DISAPPOINTED’
“I feel personally very disappointed,” City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan said. “After getting twice in front and actually playing quite well. It’s a bit frustrating to not get the three points.”
Haaland struck from the penalty spot in the 11th minute for his 21st league goal of the season, awarded after Marmoush was brought down by Adam Webster.
Estupinan levelled 10 minutes later when he caught goalkeeper Stefan Ortega flat-footed with a brilliant free kick from 22 yards out that flew in off the post.
City reclaimed the lead through Marmoush’s 39th-minute goal, Gundogan laying the ball off for the Egyptian who unleashed a blistering shot into the net.
Khusanov’s attempt to clear Webster’s header from a corner soon after the interval drew the visitors level once again.
“I came from the locker room and it’s a disappointing feeling,” Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler said. “We deserved to win. We had big chances, especially in the second half.”
At Goodison Park, Everton’s Jake O’Brien headed a last-gasp equaliser to salvage a draw after Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek had put West Ham ahead in the 67th with a curling shot.
Saturday was the first game between the clubs since manager Moyes returned to Everton, the team he had led from 2002-13, in January after leaving West Ham at the end of last season.
“Brilliant character,” Moyes said. “And deserved in the end. We’re on nine unbeaten now at the moment, and if you’d given me that at the start I’d have said all day long.”
The draw left both sides level on 34 points, with Everton two places ahead of the Hammers in 14th.
Brentford climbed one place to 11th thanks to midfielder Christian Norgaard’s second-half winner.
Bournemouth had taken an 18th-minute lead from Vitaly Janelt’s own goal before they conceded twice in a blow to their hopes of qualifying for European competition for the first time.
Wolves beat Southampton thanks to a clinical double from Jorgen Strand Larsen, to lift the 17th-placed side nine points clear of 18th-placed Ipswich Town.
Southampton look destined for the drop with just nine points from 29 games and after a ninth straight home defeat the team walked off to loud boos from their fans.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing,Editing by Toby Davis and Ed Osmond)
