Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi endured a tough afternoon as Nottingham Forest suffered a crushing 5-0 defeat to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.

Aina started the match but was substituted in the 79th minute, while Awoniyi came on at the same time. However, their efforts couldn’t prevent Forest from succumbing to an inspired Bournemouth side.

The Cherries delivered a dominant performance, led by Dango Ouattara’s hat-trick and goals from Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo.

Bournemouth’s relentless attacking approach paid off early, with Kluivert opening the scoring in the ninth minute.

The winger capitalized on a swift counter-attack, finishing with precision a strike reminiscent of his goal against Newcastle the previous weekend.

As Forest struggled to settle, Bournemouth continued to pile on the pressure.

Ryan Christie and Antoine Semenyo forced goalkeeper Matz Sels into two crucial saves before halftime, keeping the scoreline respectable for the time being.

The second half, however, was all Bournemouth. In the 55th minute, Kluivert’s perfectly placed cross found Ouattara, who headed home to double the lead. Moments later, Kluivert thought he had added a third, but VAR ruled his goal out for offside.

Bournemouth refused to relent, with Tyler Adams setting up Ouattara for his second goal in the 62nd minute.

The Forest defence unravelled further as Ouattara completed his hat trick, capitalizing on a mistake by Sels to make it 4-0. Semenyo then rounded off the scoring with a clever finish late in the game, completing a miserable afternoon for Forest.

Despite the heavy defeat, Forest remain third in the Premier League table with 44 points, buoyed by their earlier eight-game unbeaten streak.

In other results, Paul Onuachu and Joe Aribo both featured for Southampton in their 3-1 loss to Newcastle.

Forest will hope to bounce back quickly as they aim to solidify their top-four hopes in the coming weeks.