Michael Carrick will hope his Manchester United side can get back to winning ways in their final home game of the season against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, which comes ahead of formal talks about him staying on as manager beyond the end of this season.
Carrick has enjoyed an excellent second interim spell in charge, with United collecting 33 points, the most in the Premier League, since his appointment in January.
That haul has seen United secure Champions League football for next season and, with nothing to play for beyond professional pride last week at Sunderland, a much-changed United side were below-par in a 0-0 draw at the Stadium of Light.
Though Carrick has outwardly exuded calm when asked about discussions over him becoming the permanent boss, an improved showing in the Old Trafford finale would boost his case, with discussions set to begin ahead of the last game of the season at Brighton and Hove Albion next week.
But it will not be an easy task against a Forest side that is likely to play with plenty of freedom after securing their Premier League survival last week.
A late goal from Elliot Anderson against his former club earned Forest a 1-1 draw at home against Newcastle United, with West Ham’s subsequent controversial defeat to Arsenal ensuring the Hammers cannot catch Vitor Pereira’s side.
One Forest player who may be particularly keen to impress is defender Neco Williams.
The former Liverpool full-back has been linked with a host of clubs, including United, though Forest are reported to have opened contract talks with the 25-year-old at the City Ground.
Williams’ performance will be crucial if Forest are to frustrate United and get something at Old Trafford, where they claimed a 3-2 victory last season en route to securing European qualification as United finished 15th.
The two sides are in more familiar positions this season, however, with Forest unbeaten in eight Premier League games, they can afford to be confident of spoiling the party.
Table of Contents
- Team news for Manchester United v Nottingham Forest
- Predicted line-ups for Manchester United v Nottingham Forest
- Where to watch Manchester United v Nottingham Forest: TV and online streams
- Stats for Manchester United v Nottingham Forest
- Prediction for Manchester United v Nottingham Forest
- What To Do If You Have A Gambling Problem
Team news for Manchester United v Nottingham Forest
Benjamin Sesko missed United’s draw with Sunderland owing to a shin problem. Matthijs de Ligt and Manuel Ugarte are dealing with back issues.
Defenders Murillo (hamstring) and Ola Aina (knock) are likely to miss out for Forest, but Morgan Gibbs-White could return from the facial cut he suffered against Chelsea having trained with a protective mask. Dan Ndoye and Ibrahim Sangare have been back in training following knocks and could feature, while Zach Abbott is available to return from a head injury.
John Victor, Nicolo Savona and Willy Boly will all miss out.
Predicted line-ups for Manchester United v Nottingham Forest
Manchester United: Lammens; Mazraoui, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro, Mainoo, Mbeumo, Fernandes, Cunha; Zirkzee.
Nottingham Forest: Sels; Cunha, Milenkovic, Morato; Williams, Yates, Anderson, Netz; Hutchinson, Jesus, Wood.
Where to watch Manchester United v Nottingham Forest: TV and online streams
Manchester United v Nottingham Forest kicks off at 12:30pm on Sunday. It will be broadcast on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League and will be available to stream via Sky Go.
Stats for Manchester United v Nottingham Forest
- United are winless in their last four Premier League games against Forest (D1 L3), having won eight in a row against them before this.
- Forest won this exact fixture 3-2 last season – only once have they won consecutive away league games against United, doing so under Brian Clough in September 1990/April 1992.
- United have only lost their final home league match in one of the last 18 seasons (W13 D4), going down 2-0 against Cardiff City in 2018-19.
- Forest have won their final away league match in each of the last two seasons, last doing so in more consecutive campaigns between 1980-81 and 1983-84 (4).
- United’s 0-0 draw with Sunderland last time out ended their 23-game scoring streak in the Premier League. They last failed to score in consecutive games in May 2025, while they’ve not recorded consecutive clean sheets since September 2024.
- Forest are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League games (W4 D4), last having a longer run within the same top-flight season in their first 12 matches of 1995-96.
- Only Manchester City (29, before their game vs Crystal Palace) and Arsenal (25) have opened the scoring in more different Premier League games than United this season (22). The Red Devils (W15 D7) and Forest (W8 D2) are two of three sides (along with Sunderland) still unbeaten when scoring first this term.
- Gibbs-White has been involved in five goals in his last five Premier League games against United (3 goals, 2 assists), both scoring and assisting in this exact fixture last season.
Prediction for Manchester United v Nottingham Forest
It’s job done for both these teams, so expect a classic end-of-season feel to this encounter. However, it should still make for an entertaining game given the creative talent both teams possess.
Prediction: Manchester United 2-2 Nottingham Forest
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