MANCHESTER, England: Nottingham Forest inflicted Manchester United’s second consecutive defeat in the English Premier League early this morning, defeating Ruben Amorim’s men 3-2 at Old Trafford.
United striker Rasmus Hojlund cancelled out Nikola Milenkovic’s early goal but Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood put the visitors ahead and they held on to that advantage after Bruno Fernandes closed the gap.
Forest’s first win at Old Trafford since 1994 lifted them to fifth in the league table but United are stranded in 13th.
Amorim has made a positive start to his career as United manager after replacing Erik ten Hag, who was sacked last month, drawing once and winning two of his first three matches.
But he warned “a storm is coming” for the troubled club, who are enduring their worst start to the season.
Reality is now starting to set in after a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in midweek followed by a defeat early this morning at home.
“It was a difficult game in a difficult moment but we have to keep going,” a disappointed Amorim told the BBC.
“It’s been a long journey. We’ve improved in a number of ways. We need to win games to help us improve as a team.
“We are at the beginning of something big because we are focusing on every detail. We already know it is a big task so we have to keep going.”
The former Sporting Lisbon boss must have been disappointed with the way the goal was conceded.
Corners proved difficult for Arsenal to stop and Milenkovic headed in Elliot Anderson’s corner in the second minute after soaring high past Lisandro Martinez.
United came back and equalised in the 18th minute with Hojlund heading in after Alejandro Garnacho’s attempt from Manuel Ugarte’s pass was blocked by Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels.
But Forest once again started brilliantly in the second half.
Fernandes lost the ball to Callum Hudson-Odoi and he found Gibbs-White, whose flicked shot from 20 yards out went past goalkeeper Andre Onana.
New Zealand international Wood met Gibbs-White’s cross in the 54th minute with a header that went over the line as Matthijs de Ligt, Onana and Martinez all failed to save the situation.
United hit back after the hour mark when Amad Diallo showed great skill as he raced down the right wing before feeding Fernandes, who beat Sels from the edge of the box.