We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League game at Old Trafford with our Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest prediction and preview. Can Ruben Amorim’s men get back to winning ways?
Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest: The Key Insights
- Manchester United are favourites to win against Nottingham Forest, with the Opta supercomputer giving Ruben Amorim’s side a 55.9% chance of victory.
- Amorim has only lost consecutive top-flight games once before in his managerial career.
- Nuno Espírito Santo is bidding to become just the second Nottingham Forest manager to win both of his first two league games against Manchester United after Fred Earp in 1909-10.
The good vibes at Manchester United took a hit at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday when Ruben Amorim suffered his first defeat since replacing Erik ten Hag. The Portuguese head coach has only lost consecutive top-flight matches once in his career, doing so in August 2022 with Sporting CP.
United lost 2-0 at Arsenal thanks to two more goals from corners for Mikel Arteta’s side, but Amorim and his men return to Old Trafford on Saturday, where they have a good recent record, to face Nottingham Forest
Man Utd have won their last four home matches in all competitions, scoring at least twice in each game (12 goals). Amorim has won both of his home games in charge so far – only five previous United managers have won their first three at home.
The Red Devils won 3-0 against Leicester City and 4-0 against Everton in their last two Premier League home games. They’ve not scored 3+ goals in three consecutive home league games since February 2021; they last did so while winning each time in December 2018. There was also a 3-2 victory over Bodø/Glimt in the Europa League sandwiched in between, which was Amorim’s first home game since arriving from Sporting.
Their opponents on Saturday have enjoyed a good start to the season far, sitting seventh in the Premier League table. Forest were unbeaten in their first five away league games this season (W3 D2) before losing their last two, albeit those were against Arsenal and Manchester City (both 3-0). They last lost three consecutive away league games by a margin of 3+ goals in April 1968, one of which was a 3-0 loss at Manchester United.
Nuno Espírito Santo saw his team have 12 attempts at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, but they were undone by a Man City side in the mood to put their poor run behind them, with Kevin De Bruyne back in the starting lineup and inspiring Pep Guardiola’s men to victory.
Forest will need to keep United’s own creative talisman quiet on Saturday. Bruno Fernandes has been involved in 11 goals in his last 10 appearances at Old Trafford in all competitions for Man Utd (four goals, seven assists), having a hand in six goals in his last four in the Premier League (two goals, four assists). He’s never scored or assisted in five in a row in the league at Old Trafford, while Marcus Rashford was the last Man Utd player to do so overall (seven in 2022-23).
Speaking of Rashford, he scored twice in United’s 4-0 win against Everton in their last home Premier League match, as many goals as he’d netted in his previous 23 appearances at Old Trafford. His second strike against the Toffees was his 50th home goal in the league.
Chris Wood will be looking to become outright third in the Premier League golden boot race again, after Cole Palmer joined him on nine goals with his strike at Southampton on Wednesday. Wood has just one goal in his last four Premier League appearances, which was a penalty against Ipswich last weekend.
Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest Head-to-Head
Manchester United have won six of their seven Premier League home games against Nottingham Forest, with the exception being a 2-1 loss in December 1994.
This fixture last season saw United come back from going 2-0 down after just four minutes to win 3-2, with Christian Eriksen, Casemiro and Fernandes (penalty) scoring.
Following their 2-1 victory at the City Ground in December 2023, Forest are looking to win consecutive league games against United for the first time since April 1992. Nuno Espírito Santo is bidding to become just the second Forest manager to win both of his first two league games against Man Utd after Fred Earp in the 1909-10 campaign.
The Red Devils have scored in all 14 of their Premier League games against Forest, their joint-best 100% scoring record against an opponent in the competition along with Swansea City.
Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest Prediction
Manchester United will have expected to struggle at Arsenal, but can get back to winning ways quickly here, which is exactly what the Opta supercomputer believes will happen. Amorim’s men beat Forest in 55.9% of its 10,000 pre-match simulations.
Forest have already won at Anfield this season, beating Liverpool 1-0 in September, and they add a victory at Old Trafford in 21.4% of sims, with the remaining 22.7% ending in a draw.
Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest Predicted Lineups
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
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