Good evening and welcome to live coverage of Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United in the Premier League. Forest, who haven’t beaten Man Utd at the City Ground in seven attempts stretching back to 1992, started the day in 16th, a point ahead of Everton, following their victory at St James’ Park under new manager Nuno Espirito Santo which ended a disarming run of seven games without a win. Erik ten Hag’s side arrive in buoyant mood in seventh place after turning a tide which threatened to sweep their manager away against Aston Villa, fighting back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in one of the most joyous halves Old Trafford had witnessed for years.

Forest did a proper job on a jaded Newcastle side, utilising the pace of Anthony Elanga and Calum Hudson-Odoi, Nuno’s makeover job on Chris Wood turning him into Raúl Jiménez circa 2019. a tight defensive structure and another impressive performance from Danilo in midfield. Manchester United can expect more of the same – speed out wide plus Morgan Gibbs-White through the middle should test the durability of the Evans-Varane partnership unless United’s full-backs can push the wingers back beyond halfway consistently.

Anthony Martial is the only one of the 11 first-team squad absentees against Villa with a fair chance of being available this evening for the away side, who are expected to turn out in their green, white and red pyjama shirts. Ibrahim Sangaré, who was booked for a foul on Alexander Isak last time out, is suspended which will force a midfield change on Nuno which should open the door for Ryan Yates.

Ten Hag spent most of the week publicly talking about his and Ineos’s mutual admiration society and barely uttered a word about the game. Nuno, by contrast, was full of praise for Gibbs-White with whom he was rumoured to have endured a fractious relationship at Molineux. “Morgan has the qualities, talent and special abilities within the game to help the team,” he said. “What I expect from Morgan, is to provide the fighting spirit and quality, the key passes that can help us find spaces for his team-mates.

“He does all of those things. Also, he was captain of the team which is a big responsibility for such a young boy, and he did well.”