Nottingham Forest Coach Banks On Taiwo Awoniyi In Their Relegation Battle

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper has backed Nigerian international Taiwo Awoniyi to keep scoring as his team continues to fight against relegation.

Nottingham Forest are currently sitting on the 16th spot on the league table with 34 points in 36 games, three points away from the relegation zone.

This means that their remaining four league games are all finals which the team must win to avoid returning to the second tier of English football.

In the last two league games, Awoniyi appears to be back to his best after missing a significant portion of the season due to injuries.

The former Union Berlin striker scored twice to help Nottingham Forest defeat Southampton 4-3 in a thrilling contest on Monday at the City Ground.

Awoniyi proceeded to dazzle by scoring twice for his club to give them a crucial point in a game that ended 2-2 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. This means that in his last two games, he has scored four goals.

His two goals at Stamford Bridge on Saturday have given the Nigeria international eight goals in 28 league games overall.

Although there are still two games left in the season, Cooper is encouraged by Awoniyi’s performance and is hoping the Nigerian can continue scoring to save the team from going down.

“You always want your striker to be scoring goals, and he’s got more than a few this week,” said Cooper as quoted by Nottingham Post.

“He’s missed most of the second part of the season, and he got injured at a time when he was doing what he did today.

“Although he’s got his goals in the last two games since he’s come back he’s played really well. But obviously, you want your number nine to be scoring goals.

“We’ve been really happy with T. He showed a great attitude and commitment to getting back in the way he did.

“He hit the ground running as soon as we got him back on the pitch. Now he’s turning good performances into good performances with goals.

“That’s what you want and what you need from your strikers. Let’s hope he can carry on in the next two games.”

Nottingham Forest’s next league game is against Premier League title challengers Arsenal on Saturday, May 20. The team would expect Taiwo Awoniyi to step up as he did against Chelsea to grab at least a draw as they continue to push for survival.