Manchester United are making the most of their easier run of Premier League matches, as they record their third consecutive win without a goal conceded, beating Nottingham Forest away 2-0. The goals came through Antony after 32 minutes, and then Diogo Dalot with quarter hour left, with the Portuguese scoring in a match he was forced to play at left-back.
Four Wins Over Forest In Four Months
There are almost to the day four months since the World Cup final was played in Qatar, and soon afterwards the club season restarted. Since then, Manchester United faced Nottingham Forest on four different occasions. This was the fourth win for the Devils and for the fourth time, it went with a clean-sheet in hand. Newly promoted Forest have made some big reinforcements, especially in terms of number of signings, but they were simply never close to stopping Erik Ten Hag’s side in these four encounters. Two wins of 2-0 and two of 3-0 paint the picture quite well and this time at City Ground, there were never any real doubts whether United will be able to get their poker of wins against Forest in the span of less than four months.
United In Need Of Many Reinforcements
While this match showed how far ahead United are compared to Forest, it also showed just how much the Devils are in need to improve the squad. The situation right now is not good and the bench is light. Jack Butland, Zidane Iqbal, Marc Jurado, Nathan Bishop and Brandon Williams were among players on the bench, while Facundo Pellistri is a player who has never started a Premier League game either. Injuries to Varane and Martinez complicated things, which was made worse by Malacia’s and Sabitzer’s injuries in the warm up, showing just how much the Devils will have to work in the summer transfer window to drastically improve squad depth.
Antony Finally Nets
United’s lead was thanks to Antony’s strike, which was much needed for the Devils, not only in terms of the final score. Antony scored three Premier League goals in his first three appearances and was without a strike since. Yes, he was good in cup competitions, but the Brazilian badly needed to end his goal drought in the league. An end to such a run might inspire Antony to keep scoring, which could be especially vital for a United side ravaged with injuries and small number of options in the team.
Devils Closer To Champions League
This was United’s 18th league win this season and they moved to third place with 59 points, three more than Newcastle. This also means United already have more points than they did in the entire last season, winning two more matches than the 16 they had in 38 matches last campaign. That shows clear improvement and while United are not quite there yet, they are inching closer towards Champions League qualification. With the odd season teams like Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea are having, United definitely are the third best team in the league so far and they should stay there past the final matchday.
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