Nottingham Forest eased past promotion rivals Leeds United at the City Ground on Saturday evening, boosting their hopes of automatic promotion to the Premier League.

The Reds secured an invaluable 2-0 victory over the Whites thanks to goals from Sammy Ameobi and Tyler Walker - the latter scoring in injury time to round off an enthralling afternoon on Trentside.

The win sees Forest climb to within just one point of the Championship automatic promotion places, and they could even enter the top two with a win over Charlton on Tuesday night.

As for Leeds, Marcelo Bielsa's side have now lost four of their last five games and sit inside the top two only on goal difference, after what has been a dismal 2020 so far.

They weren't at their best at the weekend by any means, and after the game, Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi insisted that Leeds made more mistakes without key man Kalvin Phillips.

The midfielder has been out of action since picking up a red card in the defeat to Queens Park Rangers last month, and he will be back for the trip to Brentford in midweek.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Lamouchi said: "(It was a) massive performance against a fantastic team. Probably they made more mistakes than (they) usually (do).

"And also maybe with Phillips and without Phillips, they are not the same team. But we disturbed them without the ball and also with the ball."

The Verdict

I definitely agree with Lamouchi here - Leeds lacked that ball-winning player in midfield and that tenacity in the middle of the park.

Ben White is a very good player with the ball at his feet, but he is a centre-half and isn't as energetic as Phillips is in midfield.

He is a top quality player and any team would miss him, so Forest would have been counting their lucky stars after he was unavailable for the weekend's clash.