Keylor Navas inspires Nottingham Forest on debut to vital win over Leeds

Keller Navas show your class on it immediately nottingham forest He helped his new club to a 1–0 win on his debut. leeds united in a crunch struggle at the bottom of Premier League,

The three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid was part of Forrest’s recruitment drive in January following a loan switch from Paris Saint-Germain, and he produced a series of saves in the first half to keep Leeds at bay.

A 14th-minute goal from Brennan Johnson put Forest ahead and he then kept out Luke Ayling and Willie Gonto to ensure the three points.

The win for Forest is massive in their bid to move clear of the bottom three and they are now six points above Everton in 18th and can now start looking up rather than down after strengthening their squad last month .

Leeds will certainly be looking over their shoulders as they slide out of the bottom three on goal difference alone after seven games without a win, with two games against Manchester United coming up in the next seven days.

They will regret coming against Navas in this form as they missed good chances in the first half but could not take the lead in the second half.

Navas proved unbeatable on his debut

(Reuters)

Forest enjoyed a busy end to the transfer window as they added three signings on deadline day and brought in Andre Ayew as a free agent two days later.

Highly decorated goalkeeper Navas was the only starter among them and immediately proved his ability as he was forced to make early saves.

Sinisterra darted in from the penalty spot and attempted towards goal but the former Real Madrid man brought it down well to keep it out.

It took a while for the forest to get going but once they did they soon moved on.

Morgan Gibbs-White sent a free-kick down the right that found Johnson at the far post and the Wales international smashed in a low drive from the edge of the area.

Despite having the advantage, Forest could not control the game and Leeds pushed for an equaliser.

They created two big chances within five minutes but could not convert either of them.

First Sinisterra lofted Gonto’s ball back across the goal from only six yards and then Navas came to Forest’s defense again with another fine stop.

Brennan Johnson scored the only goal of the match

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Gonto again went down the left and laid a ball to Patrick Bamford, who narrowly missed his kick, but fell charmingly for Ayling at the far post. However Navas was equal to the shot and put it away.

The 36-year-old was working hard and made another save on the stroke of half-time to deny Gunto’s fierce shot.

Italy forward Gonto was again causing problems for Forest at the start of the second half, but it was the hosts who had a wonderful chance to double their lead.

Gibbs-White sent Neko Williams through on goal but, after lacking the legs to make a clear run, he clipped his left foot and sent his effort clear of the crossbar.

For all of Leeds’ possession they were not creating much and instead it was Forest who were enjoying the better moments in front of goal.

A good chance to seal the win fell to substitute Sam Surridge with 12 minutes remaining but turned over from a good position inside the area after being fed by Gibbs-White.