Manchester United FC vs Nottingham Forest FC, Premier League 2022-2023, Today Match Prediction

Manchester United FC vs Nottingham Forest FC Match Prediction & Analysis

Manchester United entered the World Cup break after a spell of mixed form, with three wins from six and a number of players looking like they had their eye on international football.

Now, Erik ten Hag will hope that his players have returned fully focused and ready to challenge for the top four in what remains of the season.

Having had almost a full team of players head off to the World Cup, there will be a mixture of fitness and motivation levels that the manager has had to deal with, but he’ll be confident of starting well here.

On the other hand, Nottingham Forest face an uphill battle to stay in the division. Despite making an incredible number of signings in the summer, they have failed to click and they are in an almighty relegation battle.

After this, they face Southampton, Leicester, Bournemouth and Leeds in a series of must-win fixtures for the Midlands club.

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Manchester United FC Preview

Reasons to be cheerful:

     Looked strong in their midweek cup win over Burnley

     Most players will be back after World Cup duty

Reasons to be fearful:

     Have conceded as many as they have scored in the league

     Fixture pile-up could mean player fatigue

Manchester United will take this next stretch of the season very seriously indeed.

Erik ten Hag now has his feet firmly under the table at Old Trafford and will have used the World Cup break to plan his next steps for the remainder of the season.

With Cristiano Ronaldo now gone, the manager and the squad can look to the future. They will look to bring in a replacement in January, but Martial looks fit and firing in that position currently.

After Forest, United play Wolves and Bournemouth and will expect to take nine points from those three matches. 

Along with the Carabao Cup and FA Cup games to come, United’s players will be in line for plenty of minutes over the coming weeks. The manager will need to manage their fitness levels intelligently.

Against Forest, they will be confident of pulling off a positive result.

Star Man – Marcus Rashford

Rashford looks like he is playing in top gear right now. He sparkled for England in the World Cup and looks to have brought that form back to United, judging by his goal against Burnley in midweek.

Nottingham Forest FC Preview

Reasons to be cheerful

     Squad will have regrouped during World Cup break

     Jesse Lingard will be desperate to impress former club

Reasons to be fearful

     Hennessey will need to step in for ineligible Henderson in goal

     Have the worst goal difference in the league

Despite sitting in the bottom three and looking a little short of quality in most areas of the pitch, Forest have actually won their last three games in all competitions.

Before the World Cup, they beat Tottenham in the Carabao Cup, followed by Crystal Palace in the league. This week, they furthered their progression in the cup by beating Blackburn Rovers.

It means that Steve Cooper’s team are finally putting together a run of results that will boost confidence around the club. They won’t be getting carried away any time soon, however.

With Southampton and Wolves recently changing their managers, however, Forest need to be careful that teams around them don’t click into gear and leave them in the dust.

Games against Manchester United are a tall order, but with players like Jesse Lingard out to prove a point against his former employers, you shouldn’t write them off too easily.

Dean Henderson is unavailable to face his parent club, so Wayne Hennessey will deputise in goal.

Star Man – Jesse Lingard

The England international scored 20 league goals for Manchester United during a 10-year spell at the club. He’ll be desperate to prove a point against them here, on his first return to Old Trafford.