Reds dig deep to seal brilliant win

ANTHONY Elanga scored the only goal of the game against his former club as Nottingham Forest beat Manchester United 1-0 to make it three Premier League wins in a row.

- By SARAH CLAPSON

The Reds resumed their league campaign fresh from having booked their place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup with a penalty shootout win over Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.

They were without winger Callum Hudson-Odoi (personal matter) and striker Chris Wood (injured) on the banks of the Trent but it took just five minutes for them to open the scoring in their midweek clash.

It was a brilliant counter attack as Elanga latched on to Ryan Yates' clearance header then ran almost the full length of the pitch before he drilled the ball past Onana.

Matz Sels had pushed away a Bruno Fernandes effort to concede the corner from which Elanga went on his run, and it was not the only chance the visitors had in the first half.

United mounted a response to going behind, with Fernandes and Casemiro both having sights of goal.

Forest survived and retained their lead at the break, but they had lost full-back Ola Aina to injury by that point.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first for the most part, with the hosts on the back foot for spells. Mason Mount went close late on for the visitors and Murillo made a last-ditch clearance at the death to deny Harry Maguire but Nuno Espirito Santo's side hung on to claim an important three points in their bid for Champions League qualification.

Here's how Reds reporter Sarah Clapson rated the Forest players at the City Ground: