Gibbs-White hat-trick piles pressure on Spurs as Villa secure stunning win
Morgan Gibbs-White scored a superb hat-trick as Nottingham Forest came from behind to beat Burnley 4-1 and leave Tottenham in deep trouble for the Premier League.
Zian Flemming’s first-half goal gave Burnley a goal and Tottenham fans renewed hope.
But captain Gibbs-White scored a combined three goals to send Forest five points clear of Spurs and the bottom three with just five games remaining.
Burnley are 12 points from safety with 15 to play for and it looks like it’s over.
Only Erling Haaland and Igor Thiago (both 9) have scored more away goals in the Premier League this season than Flemming, with eight of his nine goals coming in the upcoming competition.
His fine low finish gave them a surprise lead but Gibbs-White stepped up when his team needed him to score twice in a clinical spot from the left side of the area.
In his 187th Premier League appearance, Gibbs-White scored his first goal in the top flight and took his tally to 11 goals for the season before adding a third with a superb floating header.
Gibbs-White is only the third player to score a Premier League hat-trick for Nottingham Forest, after Kevin Campbell and Chris Wood – who started for the first time in six months.
Forest got their fourth in extra time when Igor Jesus broke free to shoot past Martin Dubravka.
Villa will hold on for a Champions League place
A stunning late comeback from Sunderland was not enough as Aston Villa won 4-3 at Villa Park to cement their place in Champions League football.
Villa held on 3-1 with four minutes to go before two goals in 58 seconds saw the visitors somehow come back.
Substitute Tammy Abraham then found time to fire home the winner in the 93rd minute to leave Unai Emery’s side in fourth place.
Ollie Watkins put them ahead in the second minute before Chris Rigg equalized with a left-footed curler for his first Premier League goal.
Sunderland are the 20th and last team to have an English goalscorer in the Premier League this season, and Rigg scored the first goal by an Englishman in the competition since May 2017 against Hull (Jermain Defoe and Billy Jones).
Amadou Onana headed in a cross as Villa drove high and they took the lead again with another clever Watkins volley from Ian Maatsen’s superb ball.
Watkins then teed up Morgan Rogers to finish early in the second half before the Black Cats’ pressure paid off in the 86th minute.
Trai Hume came off the bench to curl into the top corner before one minute Enzo Le Fee opened the scoring for Villa with a gem and Wilson Isidor raced over to fire in.
Villa was stunned. But Abraham had the final say by tapping in Lucas Digne’s cross for his second goal of the season.
Villa were five points adrift of Liverpool and 10 ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea – before Virgil van Dijk’s late header in the Merseyside derby reduced the gap to three.
