NOTTINGHAM FOREST VS MAN UTD PREDICTION: WILL RED DEVILS' HOT STREAK CONTINUE?

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Saturday, November 2, 2025 | 3:00 PM GMT | City Ground, Nottingham

Amorim's Resurgent United Face Dyche's Struggling Forest in Crucial Clash

Can Ruben Amorim's side keep building momentum at the City Ground? We look ahead to Saturday's Premier League clash with our Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United prediction and preview.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST VS MAN UTD: THE KEY STATS

The numbers paint a fascinating picture heading into this Saturday showdown:

• Nottingham Forest narrowly edged out Manchester United in 38.1% of pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer - suggesting this could be closer than the form book indicates
• Forest have lost six of their last seven Premier League matches, including the last four in a row without scoring - a crisis of alarming proportions
• Only Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah have more Premier League goal involvements in 2025 than Bryan Mbeumo - United's in-form winger is producing elite numbers

UNITED'S RESURGENCE UNDER AMORIM

Ruben Amorim will hope to keep the good times rolling as an in-form Manchester United head to struggling Nottingham Forest on Saturday looking to extend their impressive winning streak.

BUILDING MOMENTUM

United backed up their impressive scalp of Liverpool at Anfield - a statement victory that announced Amorim's arrival - with a 4-2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion last Saturday, making it three straight Premier League wins for the first time in Amorim's tenure.

Including their 2-0 win over Sunderland in the Carabao Cup, this marks United's best winning run in a single season since a streak of four in February 2024. The Red Devils were one of just three sides to win 100% of their games in October, along with Arsenal and Aston Villa, and have jumped up to sixth in the table - a remarkable turnaround from their early-season struggles.

ELITE FORM SINCE MATCHDAY 3

The transformation has been dramatic. In fact, only leaders Arsenal (16) have picked up more Premier League points than United from Matchday 3 onwards (15 – W5 L2). That's the mark of a team hitting genuine form, not just a purple patch.

Amorim's side are also the leading scorers in the division in that time (14) after smashing four past Brighton last time out. This attacking output represents a complete philosophical shift - United are playing with freedom, creativity, and a cutting edge that was missing for much of last season.

ATTACKING STARS SHINE

Bryan Mbeumo was twice on target against Brighton, along with a deflected strike from Casemiro and a well-taken opener for Matheus Cunha, as United cooled any hopes of a late Brighton fightback with clinical finishing.

Cunha's first top-flight goal for United displayed all the quality that saw Amorim so keen to sign the Brazilian in the January transfer window. His seven goals from outside the box since the start of last season make up more than any other Premier League player in all competitions - a specialist in spectacular strikes.

CUNHA'S RELEGATION ZONE SPECIALIST STATUS

More concerningly for Forest, who sit 18th in the relegation zone, Cunha has been involved in seven goals in his last four appearances against teams starting the day in the relegation zone (3 goals, 4 assists). All those involvements came for former club Wolves between April 2024 and April 2025 - he has a proven track record of punishing struggling sides.

Mbeumo has also either scored or assisted in each of his last three league outings for United (3 goals, 1 assist), showing remarkable consistency in the final third. On top of that, only Erling Haaland (19 goals, 3 assists) and Mohamed Salah (15 goals, 7 assists) have been involved in more Premier League goals in 2025 than Mbeumo (14 goals, 6 assists) - he's operating at an elite level alongside the division's very best.

FOREST'S ALARMING DECLINE

It is a completely different story for Forest, whose first Premier League outing under new boss Sean Dyche ended in a timid 2-0 defeat away to Bournemouth last weekend - a performance that raised more questions than it answered.

DYCHE'S EARLY STRUGGLES

Optimism had built after Dyche's first game after replacing Ange Postecoglou ended in a 2-0 victory over Porto in the UEFA Europa League, suggesting the experienced manager might immediately steady the ship. But his new side were then well off the pace in a one-sided contest at the Vitality Stadium, looking disorganized and lacking any attacking threat.

Only Morgan Gibbs-White went close to scoring against Bournemouth, as Forest played 16.9% of their passes long in a completely contrasting style to the same metric under Postecoglou (8.5%) - a dramatic tactical shift that didn't yield positive results.

LONG-BALL TACTICS

Underlining the change in tactics, goalkeeper Matz Sels played 25 long passes versus Bournemouth, the most by a Forest player in a game this season - effectively turning him into a target man from the back. This percentage-football approach is classic Dyche, but it requires personnel suited to that style.

HISTORIC POOR FORM

That change in plan could not stop Forest falling to a sixth defeat from their last seven Premier League matches (D1), including four losses in a row without scoring - a drought that's killing their survival hopes. They have not lost five in a row since October 2022, while Forest last suffered five league defeats in a row without a goal back in January 2004 in the Championship - we're talking about historically bad form.

SHOCKING CONVERSION RATE

Their lack of clinical edge is, of course, the main concern. Forest scored three goals from seven first-half shots in their opening Premier League win against Brentford (43% conversion), but in their 17 halves of football since then, they have scored just two goals from 93 shots (2%) - an absolutely catastrophic conversion rate that suggests both poor finishing and poor shot selection.

DYCHE'S DEFENSIVE REPUTATION

Dyche has been trusted to turn a flailing ship around, but he has seen his teams fail to score in 10 of his last 14 Premier League games in charge (9/13 with Everton, 1/1 with Forest) - hardly the attacking spark Forest desperately need.

That poor scoring record is in keeping with his career, however, and by no means suggests a turnaround is imminent. Among managers to take charge of 150+ matches in the competition's history, Dyche has the lowest goals-per-game rate – 0.97 per game (323 goals in 334 games) - he's fundamentally a defensive-minded manager who prioritizes not losing over winning.

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FOREST'S SQUAD SITUATION

Dyche will hope Chris Wood can return to share the attacking burden - his physical presence and aerial ability fit perfectly with the long-ball approach. Along with a comeback for loanee Oleksandr Zinchenko, whose left-back quality would strengthen their defense. Ola Aina will not feature until early next year, however, after picking up a significant injury.

UNITED'S AVAILABILITY

Meanwhile, Amorim's medical team will run the rule over Harry Maguire late before Saturday's contest - his experience would be valuable at the back. While Lisandro Martínez has returned to training after a long-term knee issue, this game will come too soon for the Argentine defender who's been sorely missed.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST VS MAN UTD HEAD-TO-HEAD

The recent history between these sides makes for fascinating reading:

FOREST'S RECENT DOMINANCE

Anthony Elanga scored the winner in this fixture last season, firing home after five minutes for a 1-0 Forest win that sealed a league double over United - a rare achievement for the Midlands club in modern times.

Indeed, Forest have won their last three league games against United, but have not managed four consecutive wins against the Red Devils since 1910 - over 115 years ago. This historical context adds extra pressure on Forest to capitalize on their recent advantage.

CITY GROUND STRUGGLES FOR UNITED

United have lost their last two league games at the City Ground, but have not lost three in a row away to Forest since doing so between August 1965 and October 1967 - nearly 60 years ago. Breaking this pattern would be psychologically important for Amorim's side.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST VS MAN UTD PREDICTION

The Opta supercomputer appears torn on Saturday's clash, with a tight encounter predicted at the City Ground despite the contrasting form.

THE PROBABILITIES

Despite Forest's recent struggles, they came out on top in 38.1% of 10,000 pre-match simulations - their home advantage and recent head-to-head record clearly factor into the calculations. The draw was rated at 26.5% - a realistic possibility given Forest's defensive approach under Dyche.

United hold a 35.4% chance of claiming all three points and making it four straight Premier League wins - surprisingly lower odds than you'd expect given their current form, suggesting the model respects Forest's home advantage and historical success in this fixture.

OUR ANALYSIS

However, the current momentum, quality differential, and attacking firepower all favor United. Forest's inability to score (four straight blanks) against United's league-leading scoring form (14 goals since Matchday 3) creates a massive mismatch.

Final Score Prediction: Nottingham Forest 1, Manchester United 3

Expect United to control possession, create numerous chances, and eventually break down Forest's resistance. Cunha and Mbeumo should find joy against Forest's struggling defense, while Forest may grab a consolation goal from a set-piece or counter-attack.

Best Betting Value:

• Manchester United to Win (-130) - Strong value given their form
• Over 2.5 Goals (+105) - United's attacking output makes this likely
• Bryan Mbeumo Anytime Scorer (+200) - He's in sensational form
• Both Teams to Score - No (-115) - Forest's scoring drought could continue

NOTTINGHAM FOREST VS MAN UTD PREDICTED LINEUPS

NOTTINGHAM FOREST (4-4-2)

Matz Sels; Nicolò Savona, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Neco Williams; Douglas Luiz, Elliot Anderson; Dan Ndoye, Morgan Gibbs-White; Callum Hudson-Odoi, Igor Jesus

Head coach: Sean Dyche

Dyche will likely set up conservatively, looking to frustrate United and hit on the counter. The long-ball approach to target men will be the primary strategy.

MANCHESTER UNITED (3-4-2-1)

Altay Bayindir; Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Luke Shaw; Diogo Dalot, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo; Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha; Benjamin Sesko

Head coach: Ruben Amorim

Amorim's fluid 3-4-2-1 system has been working brilliantly, with the wing-backs providing width and the attacking trio causing havoc in the final third.

OPTA POWER RANKINGS CONTEXT

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best.

Ahead of kick-off this weekend, these rankings provide objective context about each team's overall quality and form trajectory, helping to understand why the prediction model sees this as closer than the current league positions might suggest.

We thank Stats Perform for providing the data

Photo: dailysports.net

More information:24live.com