Bournemouth missed out on a Champions League place as Morgan Gibbs-White responded to being left out of England’s World Cup squad by scoring for Nottingham Forest in a 1-1 draw.
Gibbs-White sent a message to Thomas Tuchel by netting a smart free-kick for his 15th league goal of the campaign, pointing to his chest and raising 10 fingers in celebration to let the England boss know what he will be missing in an attacking midfield role in this summer’s tournament.
Andoni Iraola was taking charge of his last match for Bournemouth and set his final mission to secure a place in the Champions League, but they fell agonisingly short.
Marcus Tavernier’s second-half equaliser was not enough for the Cherries, who needed other results to go their way for a place in Europe’s premier club competition next season.
Nevertheless, they finished the season on an 18-game unbeaten streak and secured Europa League football for the first time in their history to continue their remarkable rise up the football ladder.
Following a season which saw three managers come and go at the City Ground, Forest finally made it fourth time lucky as Vitor Pereira did the job required of him to keep the Reds in the league, finishing 16th and five points above the drop zone.
Forest paid tribute to one of the club’s greatest ever players, John Robertson, who died aged 72 in December 2025 by renaming the Bridgford Stand in his honour before the match.
The hosts came close to opening the scoring when Igor Jesus won a battle with Tyler Adams and forced an effort on goal which needed to be pushed away by Djordje Petrovic.
Forest started to turn the screw after the mandatory water break midway through the half, with Elliot Anderson supplying a superb cross for Chris Wood who sent a header against a post.
The Reds did hit the front in the 34th minute.
Gibbs-White was brought down on the edge of the area and dusted himself down to sweep home a lovely low free-kick, wheeling away to the newly-named stand before he appeared to send a message to Tuchel in his celebration following his England snub.
The Cherries were bright out the traps at the start of the second half and were rewarded nine minutes later.
Adrien Truffert burst down the left before cleverly keeping the ball in on the byline and he cut it back for Tavernier who blasted the ball beyond Matz Sels.
Bournemouth had the hosts on the back foot and were denied a second goal when Sels dived across his goal magnificently to keep Eli Junior Kroupi’s brilliant effort from dropping in.
Anderson was brought off in the 65th minute to a standing ovation which could well signal his final outing in a Forest shirt with clubs circling around the England midfielder.
