Nottingham Forest 0-3 Manchester United: Ten Hag’s men put one foot in EFL Cup final

Goals
for
Marcus
Rashford,
Wout
Weghorst
–
his
first
for
the
club
–
and
Bruno
Fernandes
secured
victory
for
the
visitors
at
the
City
Ground.

After
dropping
points
in
back-to-back
Premier
League
games
against
Crystal
Palace
and
Arsenal,
it
marked
a
return
to
winning
ways
for
Erik
ten
Hag’s
men.

For
Steve
Cooper’s
hosts
though,
it
marks
a
bitterly
disappointing
result,
with
any
chance
of
a
comeback
at
Old
Trafford
now
likely
scotched.

United
needed
just
six
minutes
to
carve
Forest
open,
with
Rashford
afforded
space
to
scamper
down
the
left
wing
and
squeeze
between
two
defenders
before
beating
Wayne
Hennessey
at
the
near
post.

Forest
thought
they
had
equalised
with
a
superb
breakaway
finished
by
Sam
Surridge
in
the
23rd
minute,
only
for
the
VAR
to
deem
the
striker
offside.

The
hosts
looked
to
be
growing
into
the
game
after
that
but
received
a
sucker
punch
on
the
stroke
of
half-time
when
Weghorst
turned
in
after
Antony’s
effort
was
parried.

Christian
Eriksen
nearly
added
a
third
nine
minutes
after
the
interval,
his
looping
attempt
hitting
the
crossbar.

With
time
running
out,
Forest
called
upon
former
United
midfielder
Jesse
Lingard
from
the
bench
in
the
hope
of
salvaging
something
for
the
second
leg.

But
the
result
was
put
beyond
doubt
in
the
89th
minute,
Fernandes
drilling
into
the
bottom-left
corner
to
surely
send
United
to
Wembley.

5
–
Marcus
Rashford
is
the
first

@ManUtd
player
to
score
5+
goals
in
a
single
League
Cup
campaign
since
Carlos
Tevez
in
2008-09
(6).
Energy.

#NFOMUN
pic.twitter.com/GecIs6kuqW

—
OptaJoe
(@OptaJoe)

January
25,
2023

What
does
it
mean?
United
move
towards
first
final
under
Ten
Hag

There
has
been
a
lot
of
water
under
the
bridge
since
United
last
played
in
a
major
final,
going
down
on
penalties
in
the
2021
Europa
League
final
to
Villarreal.

Ole
Gunnar
Solskjaer
and
Ralf
Rangnick
failed
to
recapture
those
highs
last
season,
but
under
new
management
now,
they
are
seemingly
–
assuming
Forest
cannot
manage
an
unlikely
turnaround
–
just
one
step
away
from
ending
their
silverware
drought.

Rashford
remains
in
rampant
form

Though
replaced
just
before
the
hour
by
Alejandro
Garnacho,
the
England
international
had
already
made
his
mark
with
an
18th
goal
of
the
season.

Among
Premier
League
players,
only
Manchester
City’s
Erling
Haaland,
with
31,
has
scored
more
than
him
across
all
competitions.

Gibbs-White
impresses
as
Forest
sputter

Though
he
was
forced
into
an
early
exit
with
what
looked
to
be
a
potential
injury
problem,
the
former
Wolves
man
was
almost
everywhere
for
Forest
in
their
attempts
to
find
a
response.

His
three
attempts
was
a
joint-high
for
the
hosts
alongside
Gustavo
Scarpa,
while
only
Danilo
made
as
many
tackles
as
him
among
his
team-mates.

Key
Opta
facts

–
Manchester
United
are
the
first
side
ever
to
win
eight
consecutive
meetings
with
Nottingham
Forest
in
all
competitions.

–
This
was
the
joint-biggest
win
by
an
away
side
in
the
first
leg
of
a
EFL
Cup
semi-final,
alongside
QPR
winning
4-1
at
Birmingham
City
in
1966-67
and
Luton
Town
winning
3-0
at
West
Ham
in
1988-89.

–
After
Newcastle
United’s
win
at
Southampton
and
Man
Utd’s
at
Forest,
2022-23
is
only
the
third
EFL
Cup
season
in
which
both
semi-final
first
legs
were
won
by
the
away
side
(also
1972-73
and
1992-93).

–
Bruno
Fernandes
registered
his
100th
goal
involvement
for
Manchester
United
in
all
competitions,
scoring
56
and
assisting
44.

–
Marcus
Rashford
has
scored
10
goals
in
10
games
for
Manchester
United
in
all
competitions
since
the
World
Cup
finished,
the
most
of
any
player
for
clubs
in
Europe’s
big
five
leagues
in
this
period.

What’s
next?

United
are
in
FA
Cup
action
with
a
fourth-round
match
at
home
to
Reading
on
Saturday
(January
28),
while
Forest
have
a
full
week
to
recover
before
the
second
leg
of
this
tie
next
Wednesday
(February
1).