Manchester United travel to high-flying Nottingham Forest tonight in a 8pm kick-off (UK time). In a rather unusual situation, it is the Tricky Trees who find themselves in third position in the Premier League, while United lie in 13th place.
The Red Devils have played Forest 113 times in history.
They have come out on top 54 times and there have been 24 draws.
The side from the City Ground have been victorious on 35 occasions.
Here are three storylines to ponder before the match.
Forest’s recent good run against United
The Red Devils have lost two of the last three matches against Forest.
They were defeated 2-3 at Old Trafford in December and Nuno Esprito Santo’s side are looking to be the first Nottingham Forest team to do the double over the Red Devils since Brian Clough’s side in the 1991-1992 season.
The Tricky Trees also beat United 2-1 at the City Ground the last time the two teams met there in December 2023.
Nonetheless, before this, the Red Devils had dominated recent encounters, winning 11 matches on the bounce going all the way back to 1995.
United looking to achieve season first
The next statistic speaks to how shocking the Red Devils have been in the league this season but Ruben Amorim’s side are still yet to win consecutive league games.
As the calendar turns to April, the Red Devils are still looking for their first back-to-back victory in the Premier League of the 2024/2025 season.
They beat Leicester City 3-0 away from home in mid-March before the international break and are searching for another victory.
Embarrassingly, only two other teams have failed to win consecutive league games all season and they are relegation battlers Southampton and Ipswich Town.
According to the BBC, “the Red Devils are also aiming to record consecutive away league victories for the first time since winning three in a row in February last year.”
Anthony Elanga reunion
The Red Devils have a host of quality young players in their squad at the moment, but one that seems to have got away is Elanga.
The Swede, who made his breakthrough into senior football at United via the academy, has been instrumental in Forest’s rise to the Champions League places and an FA Cup semi-final.
The 22 year old has been a revelation for Forest in the two seasons he has been there and he has scored five goals and provided nine assists in the current Premier League campaign.
United will be hoping that they can find a way to keep the 2019-2020 Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year quiet tonight.
Featured image Alex Pantling via Getty Images
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Alex Browne Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
