Nuno Espirito Santo guided Nottingham Forest to a second win in a row, claiming a first home Premier League win over Manchester United, winning 2-1 to climb to 15th in the table thanks to Morgan Gibbs-White brilliant curling shot.
Man Utd’s hopes that their incredible comeback win over Aston Villa a week ago would mark a change in their fortunes were hit by a ninth league defeat of the season that leave them nine points off the top four.
How the match unfolded
Nuno made two changes from the side who won 3-1 at Newcastle United, with Ryan Yates and Nicolas Dominguez returning for Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ibrahim Sangare.
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Erik ten Hag was forced into one change, with Antony coming in for the ill Rasmus Hojlund, meaning Marcus Rashford played down the middle.
It was a spirited start by Forest with Chris Wood, whose confidence was high after his Boxing Day hat-trick on Tyneside, having an early sight at goal but firing narrowly over.
Forest almost opened the scoring soon after when Raphael Varane miscued his clearance and watched the ball bounce across the face of the United goal and just wide.
The hosts continued to search for the opener, former United winger Anthony Elanga cutting inside and laying a ball into Yates whose first-time shot flew over.
In a first half of few chances, United had just one shot on target, a deflected effort from Aaron Wan-Bissaka that Matt Turner saved easily in the 33rd minute.
Despite Forest having the brighter opening to the second half, United came closest to breaking the deadlock when Diogo Dalot struck a post with a well-hit shot from distance.
That sparked the match into life, with Gibbs-White earning a yellow card for a set of rash challenges, before Varane was also booked for tripping Elanga.
In the 64th minute Forest got a deserved breakthrough. A patient passing move found Gonzalo Montiel on the right, who turned neatly before crossing for Dominguez to score with a first-time shot.
United came close to an immediate reply, Turner blocking an effort behind for a corner before then skewing a clearance and scrambling to amend his error.
Turner erred again but was punished this time as his poor pass out was intercepted by Alejandro Garnacho, who squared to Rashford to whip a low finish into the bottom corner.
But with less than 10 minutes of normal time remaining Turner was able to redeem himself. From his save of Christian Eriksen, Forest countered. Elanga played in Gibbs-White, who wrapped a first-time shot beyond Andre Onana to restore their lead.
Deep into the 10 additional minutes of stoppage time Man Utd almost equalised, Eriksen spraying a corner out to Bruno Fernandes on the edge of the box but the captain’s sweetly struck effort deflected off Murillo before Turner tipped the ball over.
A first Forest win over Man Utd since November 1994 moves them up into 15th on 20 points, five above the bottom three. Man Utd remain seventh, nine points off the top four.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 |
Everton
EVE
|
38 | -11 | 40 |
| 16 |
Brentford
BRE
|
38 | -9 | 39 |
| 17 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
38 | -18 | 32 |
| 18 |
Luton
LUT
|
38 | -33 | 26 |
| 19 |
Burnley
BUR
|
38 | -37 | 24 |
| 20 |
Sheffield Utd
SHU
|
38 | -69 | 16 |
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
38 | +45 | 82 |
| 4 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
38 | +15 | 68 |
| 5 |
Spurs
TOT
|
38 | +13 | 66 |
| 6 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
38 | +14 | 63 |
| 7 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
38 | +23 | 60 |
| 8 |
Man Utd
MUN
|
38 | -1 | 60 |
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Key facts
Nottingham Forest have won consecutive Premier League games for the first time since January. Indeed, they’d won just one of their previous 14 before this.
This result ended Manchester United’s 11-game winning run against Nottingham Forest in all competitions, while it’s the first time they’ve lost their final Premier League game in a calendar year since 2011 (2-3 v Blackburn Rovers).
Anthony Elanga has been involved in four goals in his last three Premier League games (1 goal, 3 assists), while he’s had a hand in more goals than any other Nottingham Forest player this season (10 – 4 goals, 6 assists).
Manchester United have lost 21 games in all competitions in 2023 – only in 1930 (28), 1972 (25) and 1921 (24) have they ever lost more in a calendar year.
Manchester United have lost as many as nine of their opening 20 league games to a season for the first time since 1989-90. Indeed, their nine defeats so far this term is as many as they suffered in the whole of 2022-23.