Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest Prediction

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Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest Prediction Match Overview

There is now the return of league football after players’ escapades at the World Cup. Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest is a hugely important match for both teams, albeit for very different reasons. Following a disastrous start to the 2022/2023 season, Manchester United have recovered somewhat to the point of being in contention for Champions League football next season, which wasn’t looking like a viable prospect following a 2-1 home defeat to Brighton and an embarrassing 4-0 away reversal at Brentford. United have taken 26 points from 12 matches, although they have since suffered a couple of chastening defeats away to Manchester City (6-3) and Aston Villa (3-1). Therefore, we feel justified in saying that this team is still something of a work in progress.

Following a reasonable start to life in the Premier League for the first time in 23 years which saw them pick up four points from their opening three matches, Nottingham Forest struggled badly in their first Premier League campaign for 23 years, losing six of their next seven matches and finding themselves rooted to the foot of the table. Performances and results have somewhat improved since then, with Forest collecting eight points from their last five matches including victories over Liverpool (1-0) and Crystal Palace (1-0). Forest can perhaps point to an incredibly high player turnover as a result of considerable expenditure aimed at keeping them in the division.

For Manchester United, a win would take them to within one point of Tottenham with a game in hand, and extend their lead over sixth-placed Liverpool to four points. Nottingham Forest have an opportunity to use their game in hand over Everton, West Ham and Wolves to escape the drop-zone, although they would need to win here to do that.

Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest Team News

Injuries and Suspensions

Might Not Play: Dalot (Manchester United); Aurier, Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest)

Will Not Play: Martinez, Varane, Sancho, Tuanzebe (Manchester United); Biancone, Henderson, Kouyate, Niakhate, Richards (Nottingham Forest)

Possible Lineups

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): David De Gea; Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Aaron Wan-Bissaka; Casemiro, Christian Eriksen; Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Antony; Anthony Martial

Nottingham Forest (4-3-3): Wayne Hennessey; Neco Williams, Willy Boly, Joe Worrall, Serge Aurier; Ryan Yates, Orel Mangala, Remo Freuler; Jesse Lingard, Morgan Gibbs-White, Emmanuel Dennis

Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest Prediction Analysis

Manchester United’s Makeshift Backline

Manchester United are likely to be without the services of both first-choice central defenders Varane and Martinez, and Harry Maguire is also a doubt. When we add in Diogo Dalot’s hamstring injury, Manchester United could be lining up without four of their foremost defensive options available to them. This is not to suggest that the likes of Lindelof and Wan-Bissaka are in any way poor players, more that they haven’t had too much playing time together this season and this could prove to be an issue. As we expect Nottingham Forest to rely on counter-attacks and set pieces this evening, defensive organisation is of paramount importance.

This could affect Manchester United’s attacking ambitions to a degree. While we still expect United to play on the front foot to control possession and look to strike when the time is right, the makeshift nature of their defence could necessitate Casemiro playing as more of a defensive midfield sitter in this match.

Forest Must Show Attacking Ambition

When teams show attacking ambition against Manchester United, they often achieve much better results than they would otherwise. If Forest sit back in a low block and hope to hit Manchester United on the counter, there’s the possibility that they may succeed with United’s makeshift defence, but at what cost? United have at their disposal two playmakers in Eriksen and Fernandes who are both capable of reading a defence and making the telling pass that nobody sees coming. If, however, Forest press aggressively from the front and harry some of Manchester United’s less technically capable players into mistakes, then they will, more likely than not, create some openings. Although United have improved since their opening matches, we saw this against Aston Villa. Manchester United may have had 58% of the ball, but Villa had four shots on target to United’s three and at no point were they seriously outplayed. We also saw this in Manchester United’s Europa League home tie against Real Sociedad, in which the Spaniards didn’t allow Manchester United to benefit from easy passing routes out from the back and disrupted the team’s rhythm in transition.

Beat the Bookmaker Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest Prediction

While Nottingham Forest have shown improvement, we believe that Manchester United have enough attacking weapons at their disposal to get the job done. It may be disjointed at times owing to a necessary tweak in team structure, but Nottingham Forest have an abysmal away record and ship almost three goals per game. We believe they have improved lately to the point where they’ll probably find the net in a game where United are likely to suffer some defensive instability owing to their absences. However, Manchester United should have too much for Cooper’s side here.

Manchester United 3-1 Nottingham Forest

Beat the Bookmaker Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest Prediction – Both Teams to Score Odds: