Brighton v Nottingham Forest LIVE: Forest win dramatic penalty shootout to seal FA Cup semi-final spot
Brighton 0-0 Nottingham Forest (Forest win 4-3 on pens): After an abject game, Ryan Yates scored the winner in the shootout to send Forest through to a Wembley semi-final
Nottingham Forest secured a place in the FA Cup semi-finals by beating Brighton & Hove Albion 4-3 in a penalty shootout when Ryan Yates smashed home the winner after the game finished goalless following extra time.
Forest keeper Matz Sels saved Jack Hinshelwood's low shot towards the bottom corner before keeping out Diego Gomez's attempt into the middle of the goal either side of the visitors' missed effort from Neco Williams that flew over the bar.
Before that, it had been a low-key 120 minutes with few clear-cut chances and the prospect of penalties to decide it seemed inevitable from fairly early on.
Crystal Palace also progressed with a 3-0 win at Fulham in their quarter-final earlier on Saturday, while second-tier Preston North End host seven-times winners Aston Villa before Manchester City, who have also had seven triumphs, visit Bournemouth in the remaining last-eight ties on Sunday.
Relive all the FA Cup action and updates with our live blog below:
Forest looking shaky in the FA Cup
A lot has been made of Nottingham Forest’s stellar season this term, and rightly so. They are third in the Premier League and already boast 22 points more than they achieved last season with nine games left to go.
However, things haven’t been as smooth sailing in the cup, needing penalties on two occasions on their path to the quarter-final stage.
After a 2-0 win over Luton Town, they struggled against League One Exeter, being held to a 2-2 draw before progressing 4-2 on penalties. They then played out a 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town last time out before coming through another shoot out.
Things have been a bit more convincing for Brighton, who overcame Championship side Norwich in the third round before impressively eliminating Chelsea and then Newcastle, although they did need extra time in the last round when Danny Welbeck netted the winner at St James’ Park.
Brighton v Nottingham Forest line-ups
With the line-up confirmed, we now know that Danny Welbeck is preferred to Joao Pedro up front and young Swedish midfielder Yasin Ayari is trusted in the engine room alongside Carlos Baleba.
Meanwhile, for Forest, the unfortunate injury blow suffered by Chris Wood while on international duty means Taiwo Awoniyi is given a chance to start up front.
The formation appears to be a 4-2-3-1 or maybe a 4-4-1-1, with Nuno eschewing his normal back three and wing-backs for a back four. Nicolas Dominguez, Elliot Anderson and Ryan Yates all look set to start as a trio in the middle of the park
Brighton XI: Verbruggen; Hinshelwood, van Hecke, Webster, Estupinan; Baleba, Ayari; Minteh, Rutter, Mitoma; Welbeck
Forest XI: Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Dominguez, Anderson, Yates; Danilo, Gibbs-White; Awoniyi
Brighton seeking to avenge humiliation
Brighton’s last meeting with Nottingham Forest was one they won’t be able to forget for a long, long time.
Thrashed 7-0 at the City Ground earlier this year, Brighton fell to the knees of high-flying Forest, with a Chris Wood hat-trick propelling the hosts to the rout.
A result that could easily derail a season, Brighton have since found form and go into today’s clash with their tails up.
They’ll be desperate to inflict some revenge on Nuno Espirito Santo’s side by curtailing their dreams of FA Cup glory.
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