Morgan Gibbs-White 'could play for anyone' as England midfielder stars in Nottingham Forest thrashing of Brighton

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Chris Wood and Anthony Elanga earned the plaudits in Nottingham Forest's 7-0 win over Brighton, with the former netting a hat-trick and the latter providing three assists. But the scorer of the home side's second goal, Morgan Gibbs-White, also caught the eye once again at the City Ground, and TNT Sports' panel spoke effusively of the England international's ability.

‘Went into the net like a rocket’ - Gibbs-White doubles Forest lead

Video credit: TNT Sports

Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White "could play for anyone" - was the verdict from the TNT Sports panel after the England midfielder starred in his side's 7-0 drubbing of Brighton.

The England international scored with a glancing header to put Forest 2-0 up in a dominant first half, and was a creative threat throughout, winning the penalty which Chris Wood converted for his hat-trick.

TNT Sports' Peter Crouch suggested Gibbs-White would have no issue playing for any team in world football, given his impressive form so far this term.

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"He's a modern-day player," Crouch said on TNT Sports. "Back in our day, players with that ability were almost luxury players.

"But the amount of work he gets through and the pressing - if you want to play a high press he can do that, if you want to sit back he's transitional and when you win the ball he carries it and invariably picks the right pass.

"[He does] a bit of everything and he does it really well; he can get goals, create goals, he's very clever in the way he goes down for the penalty - he won't thank me for saying this - but he accentuates the foul, very intelligent.

"When I look around the top teams, he could play for absolutely anyone. He's really enjoying his time here and hopefully that doesn't stop for a long time, but I genuinely believe he could play for anyone."

‘You get punched, you get up, it was fantastic!’ - Nuno delighted with response from Forest

Video credit: TNT Sports

Aside from finding the net, Gibbs-White won nine of his 12 duels, had a pass accuracy of 85% and completed four out of four long balls, statistics via Sofascore.

Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole was equally wowed by the 25-year-old, who has five goals and four assists to his name in 20 Premier League games so far this season.

"I like everything about him. I like him even more now I've had a chat with him," Cole said. "Great lad, very mature, most of these lads are.

"He receives the ball well, he's intelligent, off the ball he's improved under Nuno as well.

"I thought early on this might be tricky because he plays in that position where's he's floating behind the frontman and Brighton overload the midfield. But he was powerful, strong, intelligent, just a fantastic footballer."

Forest boosted their hopes of qualification for European football with their dominant victory over Brighton, responding emphatically to last weekend's 5-0 defeat at Bournemouth to go level with second-place Arsenal on 47 points, before The Gunners face Manchester City on Sunday.

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