Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest

Manchester United and Nottingham Forest are set to trade tackles at Old Trafford in only their third Premier League encounter in the 21st century.

Despite starting the new season on the front foot, courtesy of a 1-0 home win over Wolverhampton, Manchester United will hardly take the field in a buoyant mood following a backbreaking week. Only days after succumbing to a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham, the ‘Red Devils’ announced they would sever ties with homegrown star Mason Greenwood after a six-month internal investigation. But Erik ten Hag’s men can draw confidence from their stellar home form, having gone unbeaten in their last 30 competitive outings at Old Trafford (W26, D4) since a 1-0 Europa League loss to Real Sociedad in September 2022. Additionally, Man Utd won all four matches against Forest across all competitions in 2022/23 via an aggregate score of 10-0.

In the meantime, visiting Nottingham Forest bounced back from a 2-1 loss at Arsenal on the opening weekend with an identical home victory over newly-promoted Sheffield United last time out. Kings of late drama, Steve Cooper’s men troubled the scoresheet beyond the 80th minute on both occasions. However, their scoring prospects at Old Trafford look bleak, not to mention their chances of staying unbeaten, having lost their last six competitive visits to Man Utd by an aggregate score of 19-2. The ‘Tricky Trees’ can find some courage in scoring on their five previous Premier League travels, but it’s not enough to mask their massive form woes away from home. The visitors have only won once on 20 top-flight travels since earning promotion last year (D5, L14).