Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United

Nottingham Forest and Manchester United are set to trade tackles at the City Ground in an all-Premier League FA Cup fifth-round tie.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s honeymoon at the City Ground is over after a disheartening 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa last weekend left his Nottingham Forest flirting with the Premier League drop zone. Only four points clear of 18th-placed Luton Town, the Tricky Trees might find this FA Cup clash a welcome distraction, not least because they take on a Man Utd side they defeated 2-1 on this ground in December. That success made Espirito Santo the first Forest boss in the 21st century to take three points against United, halting the club’s disastrous 12-game winless H2H run in the process (D1, L11). However, Forest’s home form has descended into chaos since the calendar year flipped to 2024, with just one win from five outings at the City Ground (D2, L2 – 90mins only) casting further doubt on their prospects in this tie.

Visiting manager Erik ten Hag remains on the precipice of dismissal after a shock 2-1 home loss to Fulham at the weekend knocked Manchester United down from a five-match winning streak in domestic football. But older United fans must remember the last time the Red Devils faced Forest in the FA Cup back in 1990 when Mark Robins’ winning strike famously got Sir Alex Ferguson off the hook. Ten Hag will hope one of his players will turn on ‘hero mode’ this midweek as he bids to guide Man Utd to six successive away victories for the first time since 2019. Achieving that feat would see the Old Trafford outfit maintain an outstanding run of progressing from this FA Cup stage for the 14th season in a row.