Championship round-up: Best and worst performers from Boxing Day’s action
Norwich and Nottingham Forest played out a remarkable 3-3 draw on Boxing Day, in which Norwich battled back from 3-0 down to salvage a point at Carrow Road. The Canaries were still 3-1 down as late as the 93rd-minute before scoring two goals in the final four minutes of stoppage time to steal a point.
Forest midfielder Matthew Cash finished as the top WhoScored rated player across the Boxing Day Championship action (9.33 rating) and the 21-year-old must have thought he’d wrapped up all three points for his club when he was subbed off with seven minutes of normal time remaining.
Cash scored two goals prior to being substituted, as many as his previous 17 league matches combined. Not only was Cash decisive in front of goal, the youngster also chipped in with five tackles and interceptions combined and three clearances, as well as winning four aerial duels.
Less than a week after signing Lovre Kalinic, Orjan Nyland turned in by far and away his best ever appearance in an Aston Villa shirt, as Dean Smith’s side secured an impressive 1-0 win away to Swansea. Nyland, incredibly, has now secured the WhoScored Man of the Match award home and away to Swansea, with both matches finishing by the same scoreline in Villa’s favour.
The 28-year-old kept just his sixth clean sheet of the campaign and did so after making five saves, including an 89th-minute penalty save on Wilfried Bony.
Rounding off the top three WhoScored rated performers from Boxing Day’s Championship action is West Brom forward Jay Rodriguez (8.67 rating). The 29-year-old scored both of West Brom’s goals in a routine 2-0 home win over Wigan. Rodriguez had five shots in total, while also registering two key passes and winning three aerial duels.
While the aforementioned trio had festive periods to remember, the same cannot be said of former Manchester United defender Tyler Blackett. The 24-year-old finished Boxing Day’s fixtures as the lowest WhoScored rated player in the Championship after being sent off just nine minutes into Reading’s 1-0 defeat away to Millwall (4.74 rating).
