Premier League Round-Up: Nottingham Forest beat Southampton, Leeds draw with West Ham, Aston Villa held

Nottingham Forest moved out of the relegation zone with a crucial 1-0 win in their basement clash with Southampton.

Forest and the Saints were 18th and 20th respectively going into the match but Taiwo Awoniyi’s first-half goal made the diference.

Steve Cooper’s side had failed to score in their last six away Premier League fixtures but looked good early on as Awoniyi and Ryan Yates combined, before Brennan Johnson hit the crossbar.

Awoniyi then found the back of the net in the 27th minute, and Forest controlled the remainder of the match as Southampton were not able to get a shot on target.

Forest are now in 15th, just below Leeds United who played out a thriller at Elland Road with West Ham.

Leeds went ahead thanks to Wilfred Gnonto’s 27th-minute strike, but VAR drama saw the visitors awarded a penalty when Pascal Struijk was deemed to have tripped up Jarrod Bowen.

Lucas Paqueta converted from the spot just before half-time and in the second half, a loose ball from Brenden Aaronson allowed Gianluca Scamacca to fire the ball home and put the Hammers 2-1 up.

As the rain began to fall, the match turned into an arm wrestle with both sides going for it. And in the 70th minute, Jack Harrison’s ball was met by Rodrigo who made it 2-2 to further ramp up the home support.

Both sides had their chances in a frantic final 20 minutes, with Leeds coming close in injury time when Rodrigo nearly headed in Joe Gelhardt’s free-kick, only for Lukasz Fabianski to get his hand to it to salvage a point for the Hammers.

Meanwhile, Wolves remain in the bottom three after drawing 1-1 with Aston Villa.

Wolves went ahead in the 12th minute at Villa Park when Daniel Podence curled in the opener after some nice play with Joao Moutinho.

Villa were much improved in the second-half and got their reward when Danny Ings got in behind the defence from a Tyrone Mings pass with 12 minutes to go and converted.

Unai Emery’s side had a big chance to win it late on but Leon Bailey put the ball wide when he was through on goal.

Bailey instantly threw himself to the floor, realising the opportunity he had missed for a vital three points.

Villa now sit 11th in the table on 22 points.