Manchester United travel to the City Ground in Nottingham where they will face Nottingham Forest in the semi final first leg of the Carabao Cup. United could be 180 minutes away from their first Cup Final of the Erik ten Hag era. It has been almost 24 years since United last faced Forest at the City Ground – winning that match 8-1 on the 6 February 1999 with Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole both scoring braces and Ole Gunnar Solskjær scoring four goals.
Forest’s form has risen since United beat them 3-0 on the 27 December 2022. They have won three, drawn two and lost one of their last six matches and have risen from the relegation places in the Premier League to 13th but only have 21 points from the 20 matches they have played so far this season. Dean Henderson is ineligible to face United but he is also injured and will miss the two matches anyway. Jesse Lingard has recovered from injury but did not feature on Saturday.
United made the semi finals of the Carabao Cup by beating Aston Villa 4-2, Burnley 2-0 and Charlton Athletic 3-0 and will now be tasked with beating Forest over two legs to reach the final of the Carabao Cup on Sunday 26 February 2023. Forest reached the semi final by beating Grimsby Town 3-0, Tottenham Hotspur 2-0, Blackburn Rovers 4-1 and Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Both teams will be up for the challenge but United should prevail.
Manchester United
De Gea;
Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Martinez, Malacia;
Casemiro, Eriksen;
Antony, Fernandes, Rashford;
Weghorst
Substitutes
Heaton; Varane, Williams; Fred, Mainoo, McTominay; Pellistri, Elanga, Garnacho
Nottingham Forest
Hennessey;
Aurier, Worrall, McKenna, Lodi;
Danilo, Freuler, Gibbs-White;
Scarpa;
Surridge, Johnson
Substitutes
Smith, Cook, Williams, Boly, Colback, O’Brien, Lingard, Mangala, Dennis
United and Forest have met 106 in all competitions, meeting for the first time back in 1892, a 1-1 draw between Forest and Newton Heath. United have won 49 times, drawn 24 times and lost 33 times.The last defeat to Forest was back in 1994; a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford in the Premier League. Stan Collymore and Stuart Pearce put Forest 2-0 up before Eric Cantona scored. Since then, eight matches have been played; one draw and seven consecutive wins.
In the League Cup, United and Forest have met three times with United winning all three of them; 1983 – 4-0 with Steve Coppell, a Gordon McQueen brace and Bryan Robson all scoring. 1992 – 1-0 with Brian McClair scoring the only goal and 1998 – 2-1 with Ole Gunnar Solskjær scoring a brace for United and Steve Stone scoring for Forest. United have scored seven goals, conceding once and keeping two clean sheets in the League Cup against Forest.
Jonathan Greening, Scott Wootton, Roy Keane, Danny Higginbotham, Lee Martin, Andy Cole, John Curtis, Viv Anderson, Teddy Sheringham, Michael Stewart, Federico Macheda, Neil Webb, Saidy Janko, Jesse Lingard and Dean Henderson have all played for both United and Forest. The stand out players here are Roy Keane, who signed for United just £3.75 million, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham – who all won the treble with United in the 1998/99 season.
Written by John Walker
