Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United

Relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest and top-four-bidding Manchester United will square off at the City Ground in a lopsided Premier League encounter.

Last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa condemned Nottingham Forest to a ninth straight Premier League clash without a victory (D3, L6) as they dropped back to the relegation zone. Survival is still well within reach, with the ‘Tricky Trees’ starting this round level on points with 17th-placed Everton. However, they desperately need a result here to restore some confidence, especially after suffering four defeats in their last five Premier League matches (D1), all of which saw them concede 2+ goals. Forest’s best chance to upset the odds rests upon rediscovering a defensive resilience they’ve lost somewhere down the road, given that they’re winless in all 23 Premier League games in which they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet this term (D8, L15).

As for Manchester United, last weekend’s comfortable 2-0 home triumph over Everton may have re-established them as genuine top-four candidates in the Premier League, yet Erik ten Hag still has a lot on his plate. Despite taking a landslide 2-0 HT lead over Sevilla in midweek Europa League action, his men could only manage a 2-2 draw at home, throwing their chances of reaching the semi-finals into doubt. Back to the Premier League, where they’ve won their last two matches ‘to nil,’ the ‘Red Devils’ are looking to arrest a two-match losing streak on the road against a Forest side they’ve defeated in their last nine encounters in all competitions. Worryingly, though, they’ve conceded 29 league goals away from home this term and could hit a 30-goal landmark after 15 road trips for the first time since 1978/79.