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Nottingham Forest held by Crystal Palace, UCL dream slips further away

Nottingham Forest’s bid to qualify for the Champions League suffered a setback as they were held to a damaging 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace on Monday.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side needed a victory to keep pace with their top five rivals.

But Eberechi Eze’s second-half penalty put Palace ahead and, although Murillo equalised soon afterwards, Forest left south London outside the Champions League places.

Sixth-placed Forest’s attempt to appear in Europe’s elite club competition for the first time since 1980-81 is now out of their hands.

They sit two points behind fifth-placed Chelsea and fourth-placed Newcastle, with third-placed Manchester City three points ahead of Forest.

Forest have three games left, with winnable fixtures against Leicester and West Ham before what could be on a final-day shootout against Chelsea.

Nuno’s team were without injured winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, who instead joined the away fans in one corner of Selhurst Park.

FA Cup finalists Palace dominated the early stages, with some eye-catching interplay between Eze and Adam Wharton in front of England manager Thomas Tuchel.

Their first chance arrived when Tyrick Mitchell whipped in a cross which fellow full-back Daniel Munoz met on the volley, forcing a save from Matz Sels.

But Forest grew into the game and Elliot Anderson hit the side netting from a deep Nicolas Dominguez cross.

They almost made the breakthrough two minutes before half-time with a trademark counter-attack as Dominguez and Wood combined to tee up Anthony Elanga, but his finish was too close to Dean Henderson.

A frantic start to the second half saw Ismaila Sarr head Munoz’s cross wide at the near post.

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Forest countered and Wood was denied the opening goal by Maxence Lacroix’s block as his shot rolled narrowly wide.

Palace went ahead on the hour after Mitchell was felled by a combination of Dominguez and Selz in the area.

Referee Andy Madley did not initially give the penalty but changed his mind after a look at the replay, with Eze tucking away the spot-kick.

Wharton went off with an ankle injury as Palace boss Oliver Glasner took no chances with his influential midfielder before the FA Cup final against Manchester City.

Henderson made a stunning save to keep out an Elanga free-kick.

But Forest levelled in the 64th minute when Murillo stuck out a leg to flick Neco Williams’ shot past the wrong-footed Henderson.

Forest rode their luck late on as Eze clipped the crossbar with a 20-yard curler before Eddie Nketiah had the ball in the net, only to be flagged offside.

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