Gibbs-White Shines as Forest Thrash Brentford 3-1

MORGAN Gibbs-White showed exactly why Nottingham Forest pulled out all the stops to keep him this summer.

The Forest skipper looked set to leave the City Ground for Tottenham in a £60million deal until owner Evangelos Marinakis intervened.

7 Chris Wood scored twice to sink Brentford Credit: Reuters

7 It took the striker just five minutes to get off the mark Credit: Getty

7 Dan Ndoye marked his Nottingham Forest debut with a goal Credit: Getty

7 Keith Andrews' tenure got off to a dreadful start Credit: AFP

He persuaded Gibbs-White to sign a new contract and stay put at Forest.

The result of that was there for all to see here as the England midfielder produced an outstanding, influential display.

He even found time for some crowd-pleasing touches as he oozed confidence.

Gibbs-White was given a standing ovation by Forest fans when he was subbed with seven minutes to go.

His work was done as Forest had this game won by half-time.

Seasoned striker Chris Wood carried on his form from last season with two goals - the first coming after just five minutes.

And new signing Dan Ndoye grabbed a debut goal - a diving header from Gibbs-White’s teasing cross.

That was with £70million worth of new signings in the stands as James McAtee, from Manchester City , and Omari Hutchinson, who left Ipswich for Forest, were paraded in front of fans before the game.

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Another deal, for Rennes striker Arnaud Kailmuendo coming in, is expected to be completed soon.

Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo began the weekend saying he was ‘very worried’ about the new season - but it is Brentford manager Keith Andrews who has the problems.

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You have to wonder if Forest boss Nuno was playing a few mind games in the build-up to the City Ground curtain-raiser.

He went to great lengths to say not enough signings had been made this summer.

But three new faces later - along with this dominant display by Forest - and life seems a whole lot brighter for Nuno.

New Bees boss Andrews will be at the other end of the scale though.

If he thought stepping into Thomas Frank’s shoes would be difficult, he found out just how hard it going to be at the City Ground.

Forest made a dream start, but it was a nightmare for Andrews who had a baptism of fire in the first half.

At least Brentford had some good news over the weekend, announcing a club record £42million deal for Bournemouth forward Dango Ouattara .

Brentford managed to pull a goal back with 12 minutes to go through Igor Thiago’s penalty after Ibrahim Sangare was ruled to have handled in the area by ref Peter Bankes.

That was after VAR denied Forest a spot-kick for a similar offence before the break.

Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson drove Forest’s performance from midfield and Brentford had few answers.

Wood started the ball rolling when he pounced on a loose ball from Anderson’s corner.

Forest had to wait for their second goal, but it came four minutes before the break when Ndoye’s header looped in - allowing the Swiss player to show off his ‘lion’ celebration.

But Forest’s third came from a quite superb pass from Anderson - and it was a thing of beauty.

The ball was given away by Sepp van den Berg and Anderson reacted with a first-time, defence-splitting pass for Wood who took the ball around Bees keeper Caoimhin Kelleher before the Kiwi scored his second goal of the day.