High-flying Manchester United travel to the City Ground on Saturday to take on out-of-sorts Nottingham Forest in a high-stakes Premier League clash.
Optimism has been a rare commodity at Old Trafford in recent years, but the future finally looks bright for the Red Devils.
Carried by his marquee summer signings, Ruben Amorim has steered the 20-time English champions back on track after a mixed start to the season.
What seemed unthinkable just a few weeks ago has become reality, as Man Utd won three consecutive league games for the first time under the 40-year-old boss.
Buoyed by an eye-catching uptick in form, Amorim’s charges will take the field this weekend as slim betting favourites at 1xBet app Somalia and other bookmakers to make it four wins on the trot.
However, the odds of 2.1 suggest that, despite their recent winning streak, United cannot afford to take this fixture for granted.
Adding to this sentiment, Forest are perfectly capable of upsetting the apple cart, even though they look set for a season-long fight against the drop.
Managerial charade in West Bridgford
Despite guiding the club back to major European competition for the first time in the 21st century, Nuno Espirito Santo’s frosty relationship with controversial owner Evangelos Marinakis resulted in his dismissal at the start of the season.
However, his successor, Ange Postecoglou, entered the club’s history books for all the wrong reasons, becoming Forest’s shortest-tenured manager when Marinakis showed him the door in the immediate aftermath of a 3-0 home loss to Chelsea.
Tasked with ending Forest’s dreadful eight-game winless run under Postecoglou, new boss Sean Dyche got his tenure off to a dream start, beating Porto in the Europa League on his touchline debut.
Forest returned to their old habits when they resumed their Premier League campaign on Sunday, slumping to a 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth and, in turn, finishing Gameweek 10 in the bottom three.
Positive signs have been few and far between for the Tricky Trees this season, but they can draw confidence from their recent home record against Man Utd. Indeed, they’ve won the last two league meetings between the sides at the City Ground.
New-look side
Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha have galvanised Man Utd’s frontline this season, with the Old Trafford faithful still eager to witness Benjamin Sesko at his best.
Cunha opened his Man Utd account in Saturday’s high-scoring 4-2 home win over Brighton & Hove Albion, while Mbeumo netted a double, taking his tally for the season to five goals in all competitions.
With Amorim’s tactical ideas taking shape and the newcomers settling in seamlessly, there’s a renewed sense of confidence around the Red Devils camp ahead of this trip.
Despite being accused of ‘showing his true colours’ in a recent statement about former boss Erik ten Hag (via the Daily Mail), Amorim would be wise to ignore off-field distractions amid United’s upturn in form.
Taking three points against a downtrodden Forest side is imperative if last season’s beaten Europa League finalists are to tighten their grip on the coveted top four spots.
Travel sickness
Man Utd pulled off a stunning 2-1 win over defending Premier League champions Liverpool on their last road trip, posting their first league victory at Anfield in a decade.
It’s worth noting that the triumph on Merseyside served to halt United’s barren run of four consecutive away matches in all competitions without a win, a sequence which included an embarrassing League Cup loss to fourth-tier Grimsby Town.
Amorim has steadied the ship, but he hasn’t been able to stop the rot at the back, with the Red Devils failing to keep a clean sheet in nine consecutive Premier League road fixtures since a 3-0 win at Leicester City in mid-March.
That woeful stretch ominously started with a narrow 1-0 defeat at the City Ground, underscoring the need for full focus on Saturday.
