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Preview: Man United test their unbeaten run at Nottingham Forest

Preview: Man United test their unbeaten run at Nottingham Forest

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Nottingham Forest are a mess and Manchester United are finding their feet. Can the Red Devils continue their upward swing at The City Ground? 

By Ian King

United are spreading their wings, but Forest remain a mess

October, it’s fair to say, was a good month for Manchester United. Three wins out of three, including a win at Anfield, have lifted them to the dizzy heights of sixth place in the table heading in to the weekend, the first time they’ve been this high since April 2024 (They did beat Fulham 1-0 on the first Friday night of the 2024-25 season to go top, but we’re not counting that since no-one else had played a single game at that point).

Nottingham Forest remain a mess. They’re on their third manager of the season. They’ve lost their last four Premier League matches in a row and remain without a league win since beating Brentford on the opening weekend of the season. The optimism of August has drifted away down the River Trent and it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that, yes indeed, they are one of the worst three teams in the Premier League right now.

Forest’s 2024-25 double over United already feels like a long time ago

Forest were one of six clubs to complete a league double over Manchester United last season, with a win at Old Trafford in December and at The City Ground on April Fool’s Day. Prior to that, however, United had won twelve of their last thirteen games against them going back to 1995. Last season’s performances really were the outliers, in terms of previous meetings between these two teams. 

Forest are in a goalscoring crisis, and their best hope of resolving that is injured

There aren’t too many blights on Manchester United’s horizon at the moment, but the arrival of Benjamin Šeško hasn’t quite worked out exactly as they might have hoped just yet. He’s only managed two League goals in nine Premier League appearances for them – although four of these did come from the bench – and if they can get him firing the way that Bryan Mbuemo has, the final piece of Ruben Amorim’s intended United team could be into place. 

United’s top scorers in the Premier League

Nottingham Forest haven’t scored a single goal in their last four league matches and have only scored two since their opening day win against Brentford. Furthermore, none of their strikers have scored since Chris Wood did so in first half stoppage-time in that match, and he’s doubtful for this match. 

Igor Jesus made his first start for them at Bournemouth last weekend, but was hoicked off at half-time. He was replaced by Taiwo Awoniyi to little effect. Awoniyi has only started one game for Forest too, in their previous game against Chelsea. He was also hoicked off at half-time. It’s time for Morgan Gibbs-White to step up to the plate. Forest went to great lengths to keep him at the club during the summer, and he did put in an excellent shift in their recent win against Porto in the Europa League. They need more of that from him, and as a matter of urgency.

United may welcome Maguire back, but Wood still out for Forest

It had been hoped that Lisandro Martínez might be fit for Manchester United again by this time, but he’s still not ready. There’s better news on the Harry Maguire front. A knock kept him out of their 4-2 win against Brighton, but there’s a good chance he’ll return for this one. 

Forest also have two doubts for this match. Chris Wood remains doubtful after picking up an injury during the last international break, while Oleksandr Zinchenko was subbed off against Porto with a hip injury and hasn’t returned since. He’s also likely to miss out on this match. Ola Aina and Dilane Bakwa are longer-term absentees. 

Sean Dyche should get Forest looking more coherent, but Manchester United should be too strong for them

If nothing else, Manchester United have picked up a little of that all-important Big Club Arrogance again in recent weeks, with their win against Brighton last week – the sort of match that would have seen them have a major case of the collywobbles last season – being a case in point. It remains to be seen whether this is a temporary state of affairs or not. 

Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, are a mess. Having somehow found themselves on their third (completely different type of) manager of the season before the end of October, they’re a team stuffed with talented yet underperforming players and apparently in thrall to the mood swings of their volatile owner. It’s now down to Sean Dyche to pick up these fallen pieces and make something coherent out of them. 

Forest should improve. Dyche should get them a little more organised than the shambolic look of Ange Postecoglou’s teams. But it’s still a bit soon to be seeing huge changes, and Manchester United are starting to look like a Proper Football Team again, so getting much from this match may be beyond him. A 3-0 United win, and steam to be emerging from Evangelos Marinakis’ ears again by the full-time whistle. Don’t do it, Evangelos. You can’t have a different manager for every match. 

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Preview: Man United test their unbeaten run at Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest are a mess and Manchester United are finding their feet. Can the Red Devils continue their upward swing at The City Ground? 

By Ian King

United are spreading their wings, but Forest remain a mess

October, it’s fair to say, was a good month for Manchester United. Three wins out of three, including a win at Anfield, have lifted them to the dizzy heights of sixth place in the table heading in to the weekend, the first time they’ve been this high since April 2024 (They did beat Fulham 1-0 on the first Friday night of the 2024-25 season to go top, but we’re not counting that since no-one else had played a single game at that point).

Nottingham Forest remain a mess. They’re on their third manager of the season. They’ve lost their last four Premier League matches in a row and remain without a league win since beating Brentford on the opening weekend of the season. The optimism of August has drifted away down the River Trent and it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that, yes indeed, they are one of the worst three teams in the Premier League right now.

Forest’s 2024-25 double over United already feels like a long time ago

Forest were one of six clubs to complete a league double over Manchester United last season, with a win at Old Trafford in December and at The City Ground on April Fool’s Day. Prior to that, however, United had won twelve of their last thirteen games against them going back to 1995. Last season’s performances really were the outliers, in terms of previous meetings between these two teams. 

Forest are in a goalscoring crisis, and their best hope of resolving that is injured

There aren’t too many blights on Manchester United’s horizon at the moment, but the arrival of Benjamin Šeško hasn’t quite worked out exactly as they might have hoped just yet. He’s only managed two League goals in nine Premier League appearances for them – although four of these did come from the bench – and if they can get him firing the way that Bryan Mbuemo has, the final piece of Ruben Amorim’s intended United team could be into place. 

United’s top scorers in the Premier League

Nottingham Forest haven’t scored a single goal in their last four league matches and have only scored two since their opening day win against Brentford. Furthermore, none of their strikers have scored since Chris Wood did so in first half stoppage-time in that match, and he’s doubtful for this match. 

Igor Jesus made his first start for them at Bournemouth last weekend, but was hoicked off at half-time. He was replaced by Taiwo Awoniyi to little effect. Awoniyi has only started one game for Forest too, in their previous game against Chelsea. He was also hoicked off at half-time. It’s time for Morgan Gibbs-White to step up to the plate. Forest went to great lengths to keep him at the club during the summer, and he did put in an excellent shift in their recent win against Porto in the Europa League. They need more of that from him, and as a matter of urgency.

United may welcome Maguire back, but Wood still out for Forest

It had been hoped that Lisandro Martínez might be fit for Manchester United again by this time, but he’s still not ready. There’s better news on the Harry Maguire front. A knock kept him out of their 4-2 win against Brighton, but there’s a good chance he’ll return for this one. 

Forest also have two doubts for this match. Chris Wood remains doubtful after picking up an injury during the last international break, while Oleksandr Zinchenko was subbed off against Porto with a hip injury and hasn’t returned since. He’s also likely to miss out on this match. Ola Aina and Dilane Bakwa are longer-term absentees. 

Sean Dyche should get Forest looking more coherent, but Manchester United should be too strong for them

If nothing else, Manchester United have picked up a little of that all-important Big Club Arrogance again in recent weeks, with their win against Brighton last week – the sort of match that would have seen them have a major case of the collywobbles last season – being a case in point. It remains to be seen whether this is a temporary state of affairs or not. 

Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, are a mess. Having somehow found themselves on their third (completely different type of) manager of the season before the end of October, they’re a team stuffed with talented yet underperforming players and apparently in thrall to the mood swings of their volatile owner. It’s now down to Sean Dyche to pick up these fallen pieces and make something coherent out of them. 

Forest should improve. Dyche should get them a little more organised than the shambolic look of Ange Postecoglou’s teams. But it’s still a bit soon to be seeing huge changes, and Manchester United are starting to look like a Proper Football Team again, so getting much from this match may be beyond him. A 3-0 United win, and steam to be emerging from Evangelos Marinakis’ ears again by the full-time whistle. Don’t do it, Evangelos. You can’t have a different manager for every match. 

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.