Nottingham Forest opened their Premier League campaign with a commanding 3–1 victory over Brentford, a performance built on an explosive first half in which Chris Wood struck twice and debutant Dan Ndoye scored with a thumping header. By the interval the contest was effectively settled, leaving Keith Andrews’ first league match as Bees head coach to be remembered as a bruising introduction.

Forest’s authority ran through the spine of the side. Morgan Gibbs-White, wearing the armband, orchestrated with range and daring, while Elliot Anderson’s relentlessly positive use of the ball kept Brentford penned back and uncomfortable. Igor Thiago’s late penalty offered a sliver of consolation for the visitors, but this was Forest’s day: a first opening-day league win since 2017–18 and a display that hints at momentum ahead of a season that also brings European football.

An early corner, a scramble, and a statement start

The tone was set inside five minutes. A routine ball into the box appeared safe for Caoimhin Kelleher until captain Nathan Collins stepped across his goalkeeper and turned it needlessly behind. From the resulting corner Brentford compounded the error, three blue shirts converging and getting in each other’s way as the loose ball broke kindly for Wood to jab home. For a side now led by their former set-piece coach, it was the most galling way to fall behind.

That opening goal did more than change the scoreline; it changed the temperature of the afternoon. Forest’s press bit harder, their passing grew bolder, and Brentford’s attempts to settle were repeatedly disrupted. The City Ground fed off the momentum, while the visitors’ plan for a measured away display was abandoned almost as soon as it began.

Gibbs-White conducts, and Ndoye announces himself with a flying header

With Forest in control of territory, Gibbs-White took command of the ball. The midfielder’s movement between the lines repeatedly pulled Brentford out of shape, and when the decisive gap finally appeared three minutes before the break he found it exquisitely—dinking a curling, chipped pass that begged to be attacked. Ndoye, on his Premier League debut, obliged with a soaring header past Kelleher to double the lead.

It crowned a first half in which Gibbs-White was everywhere: scheming, pressing, and even going close with a spectacular overhead attempt. For Forest, who laboured for goals in pre-season, the sight of their captain creating chances at will—and a big-money wide player converting one so emphatically—felt like the sharp end they had been missing.

Added-time ruthlessness: Anderson threads the needle, Wood stays ice-cold

Brentford needed to reach half-time intact. Instead, a loose pass from Sepp van den Berg in first-half stoppage time invited calamity. Anderson pounced, slipping a perfectly weighted through-ball that released Wood into space. The striker rounded Kelleher with calm authority and rolled in Forest’s third. Any hope of a second-half reset evaporated in that instant.

The goal encapsulated the gap between the sides before the interval: Forest alert, aggressive, and precise; Brentford hesitant under pressure. Even neutral observers felt the contest was decided by the break—"one-way traffic," as it was put on television—because Forest married their intensity without the ball to clarity when they had it.

Brentford’s flicker: Thiago’s debut penalty and threads to build on

To their credit, the Bees did not fold. Andrews’ side found pockets of possession after the hour and finally earned a foothold on 78 minutes when Ibrahim Sangare handled in the area. Igor Thiago, making his league bow, rolled the penalty home with the kind of composure Brentford will hope to see often this season.

There were other first steps to note. Kelleher in goal, teenager Antoni Milambo in the attacking midfield band, and right-back Michael Kayode were all handed debuts, while Jordan Henderson returned to Premier League action from the bench. Yet Andrews’ post-match assessment—lamenting "naivety," basic errors and damaging turnovers—felt accurate. With key departures over the summer and Yoane Wissa absent, this was a reminder that the rebuild will require time as much as ideas.

Forest’s ambition meets reality: options needed, standards set

Nuno Espirito Santo had warned beforehand that Forest needed "more solutions and more options," even as the club introduced new arrivals Omari Hutchinson and James McAtee to the crowd before kick-off. The performance will not change his transfer stance, but it will soothe the manager’s concerns: Forest combined fluency in possession with the defensive organisation he prizes.

There is wider context to the optimism. Forest enter Europe for the first time since the mid-1990s and secured their first opening-day win in seven years here. Gibbs-White’s influence, Anderson’s control, Ndoye’s instant impact and Wood’s ruthless finishing offer a template. If reinforcement arrives, this felt like a strong starting point rather than a false dawn.

Turning points that framed the contest

First, the avoidable corner and scrambled set-piece defending that gifted Forest their fifth-minute lead—an avoidable wound that changed the game state and the psychology. Then the moment of quality on 42 minutes, Gibbs-White’s deft chip and Ndoye’s emphatic header, which rewarded Forest’s control with a cushion. Finally, the stoppage-time strike that made it 3–0, born of Anderson’s alertness and Wood’s poise after van den Berg’s wayward pass. Brentford’s late penalty softened the margin but not the message: the first half decided the points.

What comes next for both sides

Forest now carry this momentum into a potentially spiky trip to Crystal Palace on Sunday, 24 August, before returning to the City Ground to face West Ham on Saturday, 31 August. With European fixtures on the horizon and fresh signings bedding in, the challenge is to pair today’s tempo with consistency.

Brentford’s reset continues at home to Aston Villa on Saturday, 23 August, followed by a Carabao Cup tie away at Bournemouth on Tuesday, 26 August. Andrews has clear principles and, even in defeat, a few useful first impressions. The task over the coming weeks is to cut out the self-inflicted damage while integrating new faces into a more stable structure.