Championship Review: Forest go top as Stoke lose again

Nottingham Forest are top of the Championship after a 3-2 comeback win at struggling Stoke City, while Fulham moved up to seventh place in the table by beating Wigan Athletic 2-0.

Nathan Jones’ woes deepened as his Stoke side, knocked out of the EFL Cup by lower-league outfit Crawley Town this week, collapsed to their seventh league defeat of the campaign.

The Potters took a 10th-minute lead at the bet365 Stadium on Friday when Lee Gregory controlled the ball in the box and fired home from close range.

Forest hit back before half-time with a driven finish from Joe Lolley beating goalkeeper Jack Butland and Sammy Ameobi then crashed home a header from Matthew Cash’s perfect right-wing cross.

Lewis Grabban wheels away after handing The Reds a 3-1 lead at the bet365 Stadium…#NFFC pic.twitter.com/VU4fNPp1Oi

— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) September 27, 2019

Sabri Lamouchi’s side extended their lead in the 61st minute when Lewis Grabban hit his fifth Championship goal of the season, but first in over a month, after fine work on the left from Ameobi.

James McClean struck to spark hope of a Stoke fightback but Forest, who have won four out of their past five league games, held on and climb above teams including Swansea City and Leeds United to take top spot by a point.

In Friday’s other game at Craven Cottage, second-half goals from Joe Bryan and captain Tom Cairney saw Fulham end a run of five games without a win in all competitions, with Wigan still yet to record an away victory this season.

Peak #FridayFeeling!  pic.twitter.com/XkpljCUI1J

— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) September 27, 2019