Manchester United (H) 01/04/25

Nottingham Forest 1-0 Manchester United

Elanga 5'

120 minutes played against Brighton in the FA Cup just 3 days before. A high of booking a trip to Wembley. A chance of silverware. But Forest are still fighting in the league. The hope of bringing Champions League football to the City Ground. The opportunity to play the best in Europe. The run in begins now as Manchester United visit the banks of the Trent.

In the reverse fixture on a stormy evening in Manchester, the Reds came away 3-2 winners, beating United on their own soil for the first time in 30 years. Goals from Milenkovic, Gibbs-White and Wood, sealing the three points. In the last meeting at the City Ground, Forest also came out on top, 2-1. Can Nuno become the first manager since Brian Clough to do the league double over the Red Devils?

After dispossessing Elliot Anderson in the middle of the park, United were quick to get up the field. The ball ended up at the feet of Bruno Fernandes, 25 yards from goal, but his effort was well parried away by Matz Sels. Fernandes whipped in the following corner which was cleared at the near post by Neco Williams. It came back out to United’s captain who redelivered into the area but Ryan Yates headed away. Former United man, Anthony Elanga collected the clearance and drove away on the break. He managed to shrug off a challenge from Garnacho as he continued to drive towards goal. Gibbs-White was alongside him but to finish a fantastic solo run, the Swede rolled the ball past Andre Onana and into the bottom right corner. That’s his 6^th goal of the season making it his best goal-scoring campaign.

Looking for an equaliser, the Reds Devils found themselves with another corner.  It was Fernandes again to deliver, but this time on the right. At the front post, Dalot headed on towards goal but his effort bounced back off the crossbar before Forest cleared.

As the clocked ticked down in the second half, United had to push forward. Forest were getting chances on the break but weren’t able to capitalise. The visitors had a corner on the right that was crossed in by Eriksen. It bounced past all the bodies in the box before falling to Garnacho. He hit the effort first time, only to see it fire narrowly wide of the left post. The Argentine was trying to create opportunities to find an equaliser. He drilled a low ball into the box from the left, looking for Hojlund. It was cleared by Murillo to Dominguez who passed back to Milenkovic to clear it further up the field. However, his clearance found Mason Mount on the edge of the area. He looked to find the bottom right corner, but the shot bounced just wide.

We were into injury time with United still pushing. Garnacho played in Dorgu down the left. He played the ball into the danger area from the byline with Harry Maguire lurking. He got up above Morato but could only head wide. The hosts were crying out for the final whistle but there was still one more chance left for Ruben Amorim’s side. Once again, Garnacho was out on the left and he drifted inside before switching to Dalot. He laid it back for Mazraoui who whipped a ball into the box. It landed to the feet of Maguire at the far post, who looked to have got the ball stuck under his feet but got the shot away. Sels had come to greet him so the ball looked to be rolling over the line, but Murillo was there to clear it away.

It wasn’t our prettiest game, but the best teams always find a way even when they’re not at their best. Also we just played 120 minutes so we would’ve been quite fatigued. It was a brilliant goal from Elanga and to have that composure was superb. We didn’t really create many chances other than that but we managed to keep United out with some good saves from Sels and some blocks and clearances. Yatesy was my man of the match and that last ditch tackle from him was outstanding. It was a shame to lose Ola, especially with Woody out but hopefully the injury isn’t too bad. We have also shown we can win without Callum too. We are now 9 Premier League games unbeaten at the City Ground, winning 7 of those so this place is going to be a fortress as we near the finish line.

Forest: Sels; Williams, Murillo, Milenkovic, Aina (Moreno 39’); Anderson (Dominguez 67’), Yates; Danilo (Morato 40’), Gibbs-White, Elanga (Sosa 86’); Awoniyi (Sangare 86’)

Manchester United: Onana; Mazraoui, De Ligt, Yoro (Maguire 88’); Dorgu, Casemiro (Eriksen 59’), Ugarte (Hojlund 46’), Dalot; Fernandes, Garnacho; Zirkzee (Mount 78’)