Fulham put a dent in Nottingham Forest’s Premier League top-four aspirations as defender Calvin Bassey’s first goal of the season sealed a deserved 2-1 home win for the London club on Saturday.

Bassey’s only other Fulham goal came almost a year ago but the Nigeria international produced a well-directed header in the 62nd minute to leave Forest empty-handed despite Chris Wood scoring his 18th league goal of the season for the visitors.

Emile Smith Rowe headed in Adama Traore’s cross to give Fulham an early lead at Craven Cottage but striker Wood levelled before halftime with a clinical finish.

Forest were unable to make much of an impression after Bassey’s goal and a lively Fulham side could have added to their lead on several occasions.

While Forest remained in third place with 47 points from 25 games, Fulham are firmly in the hunt for European qualification, sitting in eighth spot with 39 points.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s Forest side could have no real complaints at the outcome as they managed only two attempts on target at a murky Craven Cottage.

The hosts began in positive fashion and nearly went in front when Raul Jimenez’s looping header went just wide of the post.

But Fulham did not have to wait long for their reward as Traore delivered a superb inswinging cross with his left foot and Smith Rowe timed his run to perfection to power his header past Forest keeper Matz Sels.

Sels had to make a great save to deny Jimenez as the hosts dominated but Wood equalised with the type of goal that has made him one of the surprises of the season.

He got a little lucky as a flighted pass from Morgan Gibbs-White struck him on the back to wrong-foot Fulham’s defence.

But he took full advantage, producing a silky turn before planting a left-foot shot beyond Bernd Leno.

It was a similar pattern after the break with Fulham’s power and pace disrupting Forest and the hosts scored the winner as Jimenez flicked on a cross to the back post where Bassey produced a header any striker would have been proud of.

-Reuters

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The Premier League’s sponsorship regulations between 2021 and 2024 are “void and unenforceable”, a tribunal ruled on Friday.

The decision follows a legal challenge by Manchester City against the league’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules, which regulate commercial deals between clubs and companies linked to their owners if considered above fair market value.

“In the first partial final award, the APT Rules and the amended APT Rules were found to be unlawful in three respects,” the tribunal said in its conclusion.

“There now arises for decision the question of whether those three respects can be severed from the remaining APT rules so that those remaining APT rules are valid and enforceable.

“The three respects in which the APT rules and amended APT rules were unlawful cannot be severed with the result that the APT rules as a whole are void and unenforceable.”

The Premier League has said the ruling does not affect the “valid operation” of its current APT rules, which were amended in November despite objections from City, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, and Aston Villa.

“The result, the Tribunal has determined, is that the previous APT Rules, as a whole, are unenforceable,” the Premier League said in a statement.

“However, the previous APT rules are no longer in place, as Clubs voted new APT rules into force in November 2024. This decision expressly does not impact the valid operation of the new rules,” the English league added.

Invalidated rules included low-interest shareholder loans and competition law conflicts outlined by a tribunal last year.

Reigning champions City had previously criticised the Premier League’s approach, arguing that changes to the regulations should not have been implemented before the tribunal’s final ruling.

In a separate independent hearing, City claimed a partial victory after an arbitration panel ruled on sponsorship deals that the club was blocked from completing.

City, who have won eight Premier League titles, one Champions League, three FA Cups and six League Cups since being bought by Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, were accused of more than 100 alleged breaches of finance rules.

They are expected to find out the verdict for the alleged financial breaches later this year.

-Reuters

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Merseyside rivals Everton and Liverpool united on Thursday to condemn “in the strongest possible terms” racist abuse directed at Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure on social media.

The teams said the abuse was received by Doucoure after the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on Wednesday, which finished 2-2. After the final whistle, Doucoure was involved in a melee containing players, officials and police officers that took place in front of Liverpool’s visiting fans.

“Such abuse is reprehensible and will not, and should not, be tolerated,” Everton and Liverpool said in a joint statement.

“Together, the two clubs will work with Merseyside Police who are conducting an investigation with the aim of identifying the individuals responsible.”

The teams encouraged social media companies to “take a zero-tolerance stance” on racism.

“Platforms need to take accountability and action to ban such abusers,” the teams said.

Doucoure was seen celebrating in front of Liverpool’s fans after Everton scored a last-gasp equalizer through James Tarkowski to draw the final derby to be played at Goodison Park before the home side moves to a new stadium next season.

Curtis Jones took exception to Doucoure’s conduct and grabbed hold of his rival, sparking a free-for-all. After it finally settled down, Doucoure and Jones were both shown second yellow cards by referee Michael Oliver and therefore sent off. Liverpool manager Arne Slot and his assistant, Sipke Hulshoff, were also shown red cards.

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said immediately after the match that he thought Doucoure “wanted to provoke our fans.”

-AP

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