Morgan Gibbs -White Tedicated Nottingham Forest's victory in West Ham to Taiwo Awoniyi then insisted on his teammates to reset for next week's “DO or Die” meeting of Chelsea.
Gibbs-White joined Nikola Milenkovic on the score sheet while Forest maintained their hope for Champions League qualification with a fighting victory in the London Stadium.
After the interception of a wandering pass from Alphonse Areola to scoring forest the 11th minute, Gibbs-White led his forest teammates by holding a shirt with the name and number of Awoniyi.
Eerwoniyi underwent an operation earlier this week after running a serious abdominal injury when he clashed in a 2-2 draw with Leicester City last Sunday.
The Nigerian was placed in an induced coma for the procedure, although Bosbaas Nuno Espirito Santo confirmed on Friday that he is awake and stays under observation for a few days.
After the victory of Sky Sports after Sunday's victory, Gibbs-White spoke: “It was more an emotional for us with Taiwo, but he is good recovery, so that was for him.
“The whole week was difficult for everyone. On Wednesday our first day was back and the place was pretty lifeless, everyone was praying and wished him the best. He got on a good path, we wish him all the best and that victory was for him today.
“Today was the perfect example of how our team was together. We all came together and knew that we had to do this today. The boys showed incredible resilience.
This is for you, T. pic.twitter.com/0r6VNT2NMJ
– Nottingham Forest (@nffc) May 18, 2025
“We have been good to take the lead and see this season. It was a bit nervy towards the end and there were a few arguments, but the boys rode on the storm. Ganged with the three points and we'll go again next week.”
A defeat would have put an end to the opportunities of Forest to finish in the top five of the Premier League, but they now know that a victory on Chelsea would see them climbing in the top six next Sunday as a minimum.
They would then remain in the hope that another rivals – probably Aston Villa or Manchester City – will slip to confirm their place in the long time.
“Chelsea is an incredible team in good shape, so we have to go back to the drawing board this week and concentrate on how we want to win that game,” added Gibbs-White.
“It is a do-or-that moment, a final push and we have to give it all the fans, the staff and us. We will want three points.
“We want Champions League and we will do our best to put a good performance and get the three points.”
Nottingham Forest Count deep for the victory, and is now one point outside the Champions League places! #Whunfo pic.twitter.com/61kimivati
– Premier League (@premierleague) May 18, 2025
In the meantime, West Ham lost their last home game of a Premier League season for the first time since 2016-17, with Jeers Audible during the break in the midst of a flat display.
The beautiful volley of Jarrod Bowen created a tense final and Niclas Fullkrug made almost 13 minutes in the second half of the stopping time, but it was a well -known sinking sense of iron boss Graham Potter.
“It is frustrating if you want to end up with a victory in the last home game of the season. With some players who make their last performances, you want to go out in a positive way,” he said.
“We have to lick our wounds and go again next week. We first focus on Ipswich because we have another week and we want to end with three points.
“We have to use the summer to try to improve – it's as simple as that.”