Nigeria striker, Taiwo Awoniyi, has been named Man of The Match for Nottingham Forest in their valuable 1-1 draw against Chelsea at the City Ground, in their first game of 2023 as they continue to rake up precious points ahead of their relegation battle. 

In a vote conducted by the club, Awoniyi garnered 39.7 per cent of a total of 2,639 votes to beat the team’s goal scorer Serge Aurier who had 28.4 per cent of the votes. Morgan Gibbs-White had a total of 17.8 per cent of the votes while Willy Bolly gained 14.1 fans votes. 

The Nigerian was a torn in the flesh of the Chelsea defence due to his physicality and pace and was a handful for Senegal international Kalidou Koulibaly. He made way for Neco Williams in the 88th minute of the encounter as the hosts held on for a memorable point against the more fancied Blues. 

Raheem Sterling gave Chelsea the lead in the 16th minute but were pegged back by a superb goal from Forest’s right back, Serge Aurier, in the 63rd minute. Efforts to get all maximum points by Chelsea was repealed by a ruthless Forest defence. 

Taiwo Awoniyi has scored three goals in 15 league appearances for the club this season. He joined the Premier League side in the summer from Bundesliga side Union Berlin. His compatriot, Emmanuel Dennis was an unused substitute in the game.

The 25-year-old last found the back of the net in Forest’s 1-0 win over Liverpool in October, helping them to their second win of the season.

The Forest forked out a reported £17 million to get his services after they gained promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 23 years by beating Huddersfield Town in the Championship Playoff final.