Nottingham Forest in seventh heaven as Brighton demolished in biggest Premier League win | OneFootball

Chris Wood bags a hat-trick as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side bounce back form Bournemouth drubbing in sensational style

Chris Wood's magnificent vein of form continued as his hat-trick helped Nottingham Forest to their biggest top-flight win in 34 years with a brutal 7-0 thrashing of Brighton at the City Ground.

Brighton simply could not deal Morgan Gibbs-White, who was at the heart of Forest's stylish first-half showing as he forced Lewis Dunk into putting in his own net before scoring one of his own to put the hosts in a commanding position.

Anthony Elanga provided Gibbs-White's header from a clever corner routine and chalked up his second assist of the afternoon when he put one on to the head of Wood.

Elanga completed a hat-trick of assists when he set up Wood's second and the New Zealand striker followed suit in the goals column when he tucked away a penalty before Neco Williams and Jota Silva finished the rout for Forest's biggest Premier League victory since April 1991, when they beat Chelsea 7-0.

In typical fashion, the home side drew first blood with their first foray forward. Gibbs-White darted into space and sent a teaser into the box which forced Dunk to stick a leg out and turn the ball into his own goal.

Forest doubled their advantage in the 25th minute after Wood's initial effort was blocked out for a corner, Elanga whipped the ball on a sixpence for Gibbs-White to powerfully glance into the roof of the net.

Matz Sels was called into the action for the first time as he scrambled off his line to deny Danny Welbeck's one-on-one effort.

Brighton were simply not at the races and were in danger of being totally ripped apart before the break - the conductor of the orchestra, Gibbs-White, continued to impress - his cross-field ball found Williams who lashed narrowly wide before Wood's crack from distance forced Bart Verbruggen to tip over.

The hosts were showing zero mercy in a savage first half which eventually saw Forest land a third. Elanga continued to taunt Tariq Lamptey and he lifted a cross into the clinical Wood who nodded home.

Brighton pushed for a response, the fingertips of Sels proved crucial to flick Welbeck's curler off the underside of the bar and off the line.

However the Reds firmly had their foot on Brighton's throat and punished them with a fourth in the 64th minute. Elanga's domineering afternoon went on, he drilled a ball across the face of goal and none other than Wood was waiting to stick into an empty net.

The Seagulls' miserable afternoon was not finished there either, Simon Hooper pointed to the penalty spot when Lamptey wrestled Gibbs-White to the floor and Wood made no mistake from 12 yards for his 17th goal of the season.

Forest wanted more and they had a sixth when the ball fell for Williams for his second goal for the club.

The humiliation continued and a pathetic Brighton performance was rubber stamped when Verbruggen passed straight to Jota who slotted home to get Forest's European surge back on track.