SUBSTITUTIONpublished at 77 mins
Man Utd 2-3 Nottm Forest
Ruben Amorim makes more changes as captain Bruno Fernandes is replaced by Mason Mount, while Joshua Zirkzee is on for Manuel Ugarte.
Nottingham Forest capitalised on Manchester United's defensive blunders to record their first win at Old Trafford in almost 30 years.
Rasmus Hojlund replied to Nikola Milenkovic's early opener, but Ruben Amorim's home side were unable to get back level for a second time after they conceded twice in seven minutes at the start of the second half.
United keeper Andre Onana was at fault for Forest's second goal, shaping to make a low save to his right when Morgan Gibbs-White shot from the edge of the area, only to be beaten to his left as the ball did not move as he thought.
Onana and Matthijs de Ligt then let birthday boy Chris Wood's looping far-post header bounce between them, and Lisandro Martinez failed to react either as the ball ended up in the far corner.
United skipper Bruno Fernandes reduced the arrears after 61 minutes, but despite making five changes the hosts were unable to force an equaliser.
It means United have suffered successive Premier League defeats for the second time this season, with this setback following on from their midweek loss at Arsenal.
Amorim has won only one of his four league games in charge as his side remain 13th. Their 19 points from 15 games is United's lowest tally at this stage of a season since 1986-87. Forest, in contrast, are up to fifth.
Wood's header means he is now Forest's record Premier League scorer, overtaking Bryan Roy by moving to 25 in the competition.
The New Zealand forward has certainly struck up a positive working relationship with manager Nuno Espirito Santo, taking his tally to 21 goals in 31 Premier League appearances under the Portuguese, including 13 in 16 matches away from the City Ground.
"He's doing amazing. We're so glad to have him. It's never too late," Nuno told Match of the Day after the win.
He might have been able to celebrate his 33rd birthday even earlier in the game, but Wood was caught by surprise when Ola Aina's cross reached him at the far post and he stabbed wide.
Yet Wood is having a superb season. Only superstar duo Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland are ahead of him in the Premier League scoring stakes. And, having left Manchester City empty-handed on Wednesday after firing wide when he ran on to Kevin de Bruyne's wayward backpass, he was not going to return without reward from a second visit to the city.
Major question marks will be asked of United's defence, with Onana, De Ligt and Martinez all having an opportunity to deal with Wood's header but failing to prevent it finding the net.
The outcome from a United perspective was sadly predictable but for Forest, after their own patchy run of one win in four games, it was a welcome return to form that was celebrated long and loud by their travelling support at the final whistle.
They had not won against United at Old Trafford since 17 December 1994 when Stan Collymore and Stuart Pearce scored their goals.
After the optimism that greeted Amorim's arrival last month, the reality of the task ahead of him has quickly become apparent.
While individual errors cost United dear, the new head coach will be sorely disappointed about Forest's opener.
United conceded two set-piece goals at Arsenal in midweek. Amorim expected an improvement here, yet within two minutes his side had conceded to Forest in exactly the same way.
It was all so routine. Elliot Anderson sent his corner to the near post, Milenkovic had a wrestle with Martinez which left the Argentine static and stranded, and the Forest defender headed home. Amorim is realising set-pieces are major threats to his chances of making a success of the United job.
Yet the major focus is bound to fall on Onana. The Cameroon international has been one of United's better performers this season, yet his failure to deal with Gibbs-White's shot was inexplicable.
As far as mis-reading the flight of a shot goes, there are not many worse examples at this level of the game.
The goal was a shattering blow for the home side. The uncertainty it created quickly led to a third Forest goal, and from that point on the home side were desperately chasing, Martinez volleying United's last chance wide in stoppage time.
After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.
Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | Form, Last 6 games, Oldest first |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 29 | 11 | 18 | 35 |
| |
2 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 31 | 15 | 16 | 28 |
| |
3 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 28 | 14 | 14 | 28 |
| |
4 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 21 | 6 | 27 |
| |
5 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 19 | 18 | 1 | 25 |
| |
6 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 25 |
| |
7 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 31 | 28 | 3 | 23 |
| |
8 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 23 | 20 | 3 | 23 |
| |
9 | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 21 | 19 | 2 | 22 |
| |
10 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 21 | 19 | 2 | 21 |
| |
11 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 28 | 15 | 13 | 20 |
| |
12 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 19 | 21 | -2 | 20 |
| |
13 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 19 | 18 | 1 | 19 |
| |
14 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 27 | -9 | 15 |
| |
15 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 21 | -7 | 14 |
| |
16 | 15 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 20 | -6 | 13 |
| |
17 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 19 | 28 | -9 | 13 |
| |
18 | 14 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 25 | -12 | 9 |
| |
19 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 22 | 36 | -14 | 9 |
| |
20 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 11 | 31 | -20 | 5 |
|
Manager: Ruben Amorim
Formation: 3 - 4 - 2 - 1
Manager: Nuno Espírito Santo
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager: Ruben Amorim
Formation: 3 - 4 - 2 - 1
Manager: Nuno Espírito Santo
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Premier League
All competitions
All competitions
All competitions
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.
Following their 2-1 victory in December 2023, Nottingham Forest are looking to win consecutive league games against Manchester United for the first time since April 1992.
Manchester United have scored in all 14 of their Premier League games against Nottingham Forest, their joint-best 100% scoring record against an opponent in the competition along with Swansea City.
Manchester United have won 3-0 against Leicester and 4-0 against Everton in their last two Premier League home games. They’ve not scored 3+ in three consecutive home league games since February 2021, while they last did so while winning each time in December 2018.
Nottingham Forest’s last two Premier League away games have been 3-0 defeats (vs Arsenal and Man City), having won five of seven on the road before this (D2). 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.
Manchester United have won their last four home matches in all competitions, scoring at least twice in each match (12 goals). Ruben Amorim has won both of his home games in charge so far – only five managers have won their first three at home with the Red Devils, most recently Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2018-19.
Ruben Amorim suffered his first defeat as Manchester United manager at Arsenal last time out – the Portuguese has only lost consecutive top-flight matches once in his career, doing so in August 2022 with Sporting CP.
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 the 1909-10 campaign.
Marcus Rashford scored twice in Man Utd’s 4-0 win against Everton in their last home league game, 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 Premier League.
In all competitions, Bruno Fernandes has been involved in 11 goals in his last 10 appearances at Old Trafford for Man Utd (4 goals, 7 assists), having a hand in six goals in his last four in the Premier League (2 goals, 4 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).