Manchester United travel to Nottingham Forest in domestic cup action for the second season in a row on Wednesday evening, for a hotly anticipated FA Cup fifth-round tie.
Erik ten Hag’s side heads to the East Midlands looking to end February by returning to winning ways, after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Fulham ended a run of five consecutive victories in all competitions.
United were victors at the City Ground on route to Carabao Cup success last term – winning on both occasions of the two-legged semi-final tie – and will hope that victory in Nottinghamshire can provide another springboard to silverware come the end of the season.
Saturday’s disappointing defeat against Fulham ended our unbeaten start to 2024, with the Reds having won every game before the visit of the Cottagers with the exception of January’s 2-2 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
Two of those victories have come on the road in the FA Cup, 2-0 against Wigan Athletic in the third round and 4-2 against Newport County in the fourth round.
The Reds have also won three Premier League away games in a row – against Wolves, Aston Villa and Luton Town – since our last meeting with Forest in December.
Meanwhile, Forest come into the game following the 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday, but had won in their previous game, with a 2-0 win over West Ham at home the preceding weekend. That’s been Forest’s only win in 90 minutes at the City Ground so far this calendar year.
RECENT MEETINGS
Prior to defeat on our last visit to the City Ground, United had won 11 games in a row in all competitions against Forest – a run stretching back to the mid-1990s.
The most recent five of those victories spanned this season and last – with United earning a 3-2 comeback win at Old Trafford in the Premier League back in August, as well as completing the league double and winning both legs of a Carabao Cup semi-final last term.
Prior to then, United and Forest hadn’t faced one another in almost a quarter of a century – with our final meeting of the 20th-century a famous 8-1 win in Nottinghamshire, 25 years ago this month when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored four goals off the bench.
TEAM NEWS
Following Saturday’s contest against Fulham in the Premier League, we await further news from Erik ten Hag on the latest from the United camp – with the boss set to speak in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
United lost Rasmus Hojlund to injury before Fulham’s visit, which was said to keep him out for two or three weeks, and are also without longer-term absentees Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Mason Mount and Tyrell Malacia.
Casemiro will be assessed after clashing heads with Fulham’s Harrison Reed, which forced him to be withdrawn early in the second half against the Cottagers last weekend.
In the Forest camp, Nuno Espirito Santo has World Cup-winning defender Gonzalo Montiel – who played against United for Sevilla last season – back at his disposal, after he returned to the substitutes’ bench last time out.
Nuno Tavares, who is on loan from Arsenal, missed Forest’s 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday through injury, with centre-back Moussa Niakhate filling the void at left-back.
Forest will not be able to call upon the services of Ibrahim Sangare, Willy Boly, Chris Wood and Olaoluwa Aina, who are all set for a prolonged spells in the treatment room.
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