Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest continued their unbeaten starts to the 2025/26 Premier League season as they played out a 1-1 draw on Sunday.
The spoils were shared after an entertaining match at Selhurst Park, where Callum Hudson-Odoi cancelled out Ismaila Sarr’s first-half effort.
Palace were beginning life after Eberechi Eze, who completed his move to Arsenal on Saturday, and they took the lead in the 37th minute through Sarr’s neat first-time finish.
However, Hudson-Odoi responded 12 minutes after the break for the visitors.
Igor Jesus and Omari Hutchinson both had chances to win it for Forest in stoppage time, but the draw still lifts them to fourth in the table with four points, two more than Oliver Glasner’s side in 13th.
How the match unfolded
Palace had the first sight of goal after just four minutes, with Murillo cutting out Justin Devenny's attempted square ball for Jean-Philippe Mateta, who then called Matz Sels into action with a fierce effort from distance.
However, Sels was helpless as the hosts went ahead late in the first half, with Sarr capping a patient move by sweeping home from Daniel Munoz's cross (below).
Palace went close to doubling their lead before the break with Will Hughes drilling a volley wide, while Marc Guehi headed Adam Wharton's free-kick against the post.
Yet Forest levelled in the 57th minute following a swift counter, with Hudson-Odoi latching onto Dan Ndoye's outstanding cross-field pass before firing past Dean Henderson.
The visitors almost completed the turnaround in stoppage time when Jesus struck the far post and Hutchinson lifted narrowly over Henderson's crossbar.
At the other end, Sarr’s appeal for a penalty was waved away with the Palace winger having strayed marginally offside, as the teams settled for a point apiece.
Another point for draw specialists Palace
From Palace's perspective, there was an extra spice to this clash given the identity of their opponents; Forest replaced them in the UEFA Europa League after Palace were charged with breaching UEFA's multi-club ownership rules and demoted to the UEFA Conference League.
It was also Palace's first match since Eze's departure, with the England international joining Arsenal after being strongly linked with their rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
The Eagles had never beaten Forest in the Premier League, but they looked the more enterprising side in the first half and were rewarded when Sarr's side-footed finish skipped off the turf and in.
However, they were caught on the counter just before the hour mark with Ndoye and Hudson-Odoi exploiting the space in behind their defence to get Forest back on level terms.
Palace hearts were in mouths when Forest missed two big chances to steal the victory late on, but Glasner's men have now drawn six of their last eight Premier League matches dating back to last season.
Their attention now turns to the Conference League and the second leg of their play-off against Norwegian side Fredrikstad on Thursday, three days before returning to Premier League action away at Aston Villa.
Glasner will hope to get some transfer business done before then, with Palace now seeking a replacement for last season's FA Cup hero Eze.
Forest show spirit amid Nuno speculation
There remains intense speculation surrounding the future of the head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, but he insisted pre-match that he was not trying to engineer a move away from the City Ground.
It looked as though the background noise had impacted Forest's players in the first half, with their clearest sight on goal resulting in Morgan Gibbs-White firing a volley wildly over the bar.
Nevertheless, the visitors responded well after the break and their only shot on target throughout the contest resulted in Hudson-Odoi's equaliser (below).
It remains to be seen how things will pan out off the pitch for Forest in the next few days.
But James McAtee’s cameo from the bench suggested there are reasons to be optimistic on the field, with the former Manchester City midfielder enjoying a few neat touches after his second-half introduction.
Forest will hope things have settled down by the time the international break rolls around. Before then, they welcome struggling West Ham United to the City Ground next Sunday.
Club reports
Crystal Palace report | Nottingham Forest report
What the managers said
Oliver Glasner: "The players were a little bit frustrated after the game because when you have the lead, you want to get the win. But I think a draw was the fair result. I give credit to my players for the fact we are unbeaten in four matches across two weeks, including games against Liverpool, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest - three of last season's top seven teams.
"We know we can play better football than we did, especially in some parts of the second half. It looked like there was some fatigue in the legs of players who have played every single minute. But that's the situation we are in at the moment and the players are dealing well with it."
Nuno Espirito Santo: "I think we played good in both halves against a very tough team - Palace are a very good team, well drilled, well organised. We showed character and played good, and in the final moments of the game, we had two good chances to score. It's always very difficult to defend against Palace, they have such good players - Sarr, Mateta - up front but our boys did okay.
"Now is a moment to ignore the noise and just focus on what I have to do. My job is clear. Of course, there will be a resolution, everything is going to be okay for sure. It's the moment now to sit down and talk. But the more important thing is how we play football. I think we are improving, trying to adjust some things, and that is where my focus is."
Next fixtures
Key facts
Five of the last six Premier League meetings between Palace and Forest have ended in draws (one victory for Forest) – indeed, since the start of the 2022/23 season, this fixture has produced the most draws in the competition (5).
Forest remain unbeaten against Palace in the Premier League, both overall (P11 W4 D7) and at Selhurst Park (P6 W1 D5). Only against Southampton have they played more Premier League matches away from home without losing (7).
Palace are unbeaten in their last 12 matches across all competitions (W5 D7); their longest run without a defeat as a top-flight club since October 1990 (13 matches).