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By Johnny Edward.
Former Arsenal midfielder, Paul Merson, believes Taiwo Awoniyi’s goalscoring form can keep Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Awoniyi scored twice in two consecutive games against Southampton and Chelsea to take his goals tally to nine for Nottingham Forest this season.
The 25-year-old became the first player to score back-to-back doubles for Forest since 1995.
Forest, who now sit in 16th position, three points above the relegation zone with two games to play, need a win or two draws to avoid relegation at the end of the season.
And Merson thinks having an in-form striker in Awoniyi could be the difference for Forest in the relegation battle.
According to the former West Ham midfielder, Forest played to Awoniyi’s strengths at Stamford Bridge.
“For Forest to go 2-1 down and draw 2-2, it’s a massive, massive point,” Merson told Skysports.
“Awoniyi, who scored the two goals, was a threat. He held the ball up well. I saw him the other week playing away from home and he was taken off, he didn’t do well.
“Now he (Awoniyi) looks a handful, he’s holding it up and playing it simple and scored two goals. They were simple.
“With him playing like that with a couple of games left, I’d be quite shocked if Forest went down from here. To come back with that away record is very, very good.”
He added, “I think it’s going to be hard for the others to catch them. Leicester are virtually going to have to win two out of their three games. It’s a hard one. That point was huge for Forest. They need four out of their last six points.
“They go into the game against Arsenal with a couple of good recent results against them at home. It will be a hard game for Arsenal. If Forest plays like this on the counter-attack, they could pick them apart and cause problems. Arsenal will cause major problems down the other end.
“I think Forest will stay up. Leeds have to win one out of their last two games at least and I’m not sure Leicester can win two out of their three.”