Can Ruben Amorim’s side extend their four-game unbeaten run in the Premier League? We look ahead to Tuesday’s clash with our Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United prediction and preview.
Nottingham Forest vs Man Utd Stats: The Key Insights
The Opta supercomputer predicts a home win, with Nottingham Forest winning 42.9% of pre-match simulations.
Forest are unbeaten in their last eight home Premier League games, winning six of them (D2).
Bruno Fernandes has scored (3) or assisted (3) a goal in each of his last four top-flight games for Manchester United.
Manchester United face the daunting task of visiting the City Ground as Nottingham Forest look to take a step closer to UEFA Champions League qualification on Tuesday night.
Nuno Espírito Santo’s side are third in the Premier League after winning 4-2 at Ipswich Town last time out before the international break. Anthony Elanga’s first-half double followed Nikola Milenkovic‘s opener before a late Jota Silva goal sealed the win at Portman Road.
Player Analysis
And at the weekend, Forest won a third straight FA Cup penalty shootout to beat Brighton and reach the semi-finals of the competition for the first time in 34 years.
Forest now return to the City Ground, where they are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League games, winning six of those (D2). That is as many wins as they had managed in their previous 24 top-flight home matches combined.
Forest have not gone nine Premier League games unbeaten on their own turf since March 2023, though anything is possible with the top-two chasers riding the crest of an impressive wave.
Their success may slow at some point, however. Forest have scored 49 goals from an expected goals tally of 37.5 in the league this season, with their overperformance of 11.5 the biggest in the division this term.
Central to their fine campaign has been Morgan Gibbs-White, who has assisted a goal in both of Forest’s last two Premier League games. The only players to assist a goal in three successive appearances for the club in the competition are Steve Stone (Apr 1995), Ian Woan (Nov 1995), Gibbs-White himself (Apr 2024), and Elanga (Jan 2025).
Talisman Chris Wood returned from international duty with a hip injury and missed Saturday’s penalty-shootout victory against Brighton in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Nuno admitted his striker’s concern is “not good” as Forest take his recovery on a day-by-day basis.
Ruben Amorim’s side eased past relegation-bound Leicester City before the pause for international football. Bruno Fernandes teed up both goals for Rasmus Højlund and Alejandro Garnacho before adding a late finish of his own in a 3-0 win at the King Power Stadium.
Fernandes has scored or assisted (3 of each) a goal in each of his last four Premier League games. Indeed, only twice before has he had a longer run of goal involvements in the competition (five appearances from February to June 2020, and six from December 2022 to February 2023).
Goals for Garnacho and Højlund were also a welcome relief. It was Garnacho’s first league strike in 17 appearances, while Højlund scored his first in his last 14 games in the competition.
However, Garnacho has never previously found the net in successive appearances in the Premier League, while Højlund last did so in May 2024 for United, who are 13th in the table after going four league games unbeaten.
The pair will have to step up if United are to win back-to-back league games for the first time this season, and do so away from home for the first time since winning three in a row in February 2024. Along with Ipswich and Southampton, United are one of three sides yet to win consecutive 2024-25 league games.
Amorim still has defensive concerns, too, given how many chances his side allow. Man Utd have conceded 40 goals from 45.5 expected goals against (5.5 overperformance) – only Tottenham (6.3) have a better xGA difference in their favour in the 2024-25 Premier League.
Nottingham Forest vs Man Utd Head-to-Head
United have lost their last two Premier League games against Forest, more than they had in their first 13 beforehand (W10 D2 L1).
Indeed, Forest won this exact fixture 2-1 last season thanks to goals from Nicolás Domínguez and Gibbs-White. They last won against United at the City Ground in consecutive league campaigns in 1988-89/1989-90.
Forest were also 3-2 winners in the reverse meeting at Old Trafford back on December 7. Højlund cancelled out Milenković’s opener before goals for Gibbs-White and Wood rendered Fernandes’ second-half strike a mere consolation.
That win leaves Tuesday’s hosts looking to complete their first league double over Manchester United since 1991-92 under the great Brian Clough.
Nottingham Forest vs Man Utd Prediction
Forest are the favourites on Tuesday, having won 42.9% of 10,000 pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer.
United still have a 31.1% chance of claiming all three points at the City Ground, while the draw was ranked at 26.0%.
Nottingham Forest vs Man Utd Prediction Opta
Nottingham Forest vs Man Utd Predicted Lineups
Nottingham Forest predicted lineup vs Man Utd
Man Utd predicted lineup vs Nottingham Forest
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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