SAINTS almost staged the most spectacular comeback but saw a late leveller cleared off the line as their 3-2 defeat at Nottingham Forest produced a grand slam finish.

Elliot Anderson, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Chris Wood all scored goals in one of the easiest 45 minutes of third-place Forest's Premier League tenure.

The TV commentators even joked that Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels had been given the day off - it took 87 minutes for a proper Saints shot on target.

He could do nothing about a fortunate goal that was credited to Jan Bednarek on the hour-mark though, before a VAR ruling spared Aaron Ramsdale a clanger.

However, Paul Onuachu's first goal for Southampton came just as 12 minutes of added time were signalled and set up a tantalising conclusion at 3-2.

But the stellar Ola Aina cleared off the line to deny Bednarek and condemn Saints to an 18th Premier League defeat in 22 matches this season.

Ivan Juric made three changes to his team that also threatened but fell short at Man United, with Tyler Dibling ruled out for four to six weeks with an ankle injury.

Kamaldeen Sulemana's resurgence under Juric has been impressive but he was fatigued after his first 90 minutes for Saints and dropped to the bench.

Cameron Archer and Adam Armstrong replaced the forward pair, while Flynn Downes also returned to the lineup in place of Lesley Ugochukwu.

Nuno Espirito Santo's Forest have been in dreamland this season, losing just twice at home all season to see them sit third in the Premier League.

Their last outing was on Tuesday - a 1-1 draw with league leaders Liverpool - meaning they had an additional two days recovery to Saints.

Their only change was a midfield one but former Saints captain James Ward-Prowse remained on the bench for the visit of his old teammates.

The surviving midfielder, Anderson, opened the scoring from range after 10 minutes of relative stalemate to compile the season's misery of the visitors.

And their second strike came on the half-hour mark, with the two chances combining for 0.15 expected goals (x.G) but worth two goals on the scoreboard.

Bednarek had difficulty trapping a pass from James Bree, from which Hudson-Odoi pounced and drilled into the far corner from outside the area.

Things nearly got worse as Downes was booked for an aggressive shove to the face of Morgan Gibbs-White, taking him one booking away from a two-match ban.

Saints were then caught ball-watching and standing off at least three times in the build-up to Wood's goal - his fourth in six matches against Saints.

Forest were allowed to play across the pitch under no pressure from a throw-in, resulting in Aina crossing centrally for Wood to head past Ramsdale.

Downes might have been lucky to make it to half-time without being dismissed but that was where Juric decided he had seen enough, with Ugochukwu on.

Saints did not look any more organised, tripping over each other as Ramsdale saved a Wood shot and a Gibbs-White effort was cleared off the line.

Bednarek was then credited with pulling a goal back as substitute Onuachu headed down for Lesley Ugochukwu to smash from range, hitting Bednarek en route.

A short VAR check confirmed the Pole was onside when Ugochukwu's shot flicked off him, leaving Saints with 30 minutes at 3-1 down.

Ramsdale dropped a straight-forward Nikola Milenkovic header into the back of the net almost immediately after but VAR again looked to intervene.

Anthony Taylor was sent to the screen and adjudged Wood to be interfering in an offside position so ruled the goal out, sparing Ramsdale's blushes.

Wood missed a chance from close range and might have rued it after Onuachu headed in a Mateus Fernandes corner during added time to halve the deficit.

Aina spectacularly hooked off the line to deny Bednarek his second from another corner and that was as close as the visitors would go to a point.

Saints threw bodies forward and were furious when Will Smallbone was denied a free-kick in a dangerous area, from which Forest countered to run down the clock.

Forest: Sels; Aina, Murillo, Milenkovic, Williams; Dominguez (Yates, 81), Anderson, Gibbs-White (Sosa, 81); Elanga (Moreno, 73), Hudson-Odoi (Jota, 38), Wood (Awoniyi, 81).

Unused subs: Miguel, Morata, Boly, Ward-Prowse.

Saints: Ramsdale; Sugawara (Manning, 57), Bree (Smallbone, 86), Bednarek, Harwood-Bellis, Walker-Peters; Downes (Ugochukwu, h-t), Aribo; Fernandes, Armstrong (Kamaldeen, 57), Archer (Onuachu, 57).

Unused subs: McCarthy, Wood, Fraser, Bella-Kotchap.

Booked: Downes, Walker-Peters, Aribo, Ugochukwu.

Referee: Anthony Taylor.

VAR: Graham Scott.