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Garnacho the hero again for Ten Hag
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New man Nuno struggles against United
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Creative drive offered by Gibbs-White
Nottingham Forest v Manchester United
Saturday December 30th, 17:30
Live on Sky Sports Football
Young star Garnacho key for Ten Hag future
It's been a big week at Old Trafford. Jim Ratcliffe completed his long awaited deal to take over "football operations" of the club which led to a huge increase in rumours about Erik Ten Hag's departure. Those rumours gathered pace on Boxing Day as Aston Villa jumped into a 2-0 first half lead but the Dutchman was spared embarassment by a spirited comeback led by Alejandro Garnacho.
The Argentine youngster had a goal disallowed for a marginal offside early in the second half but bounced back from that disappointment to score twice more before Rasmus Hojlund stole the headlines with his first Premier League goal to win the game.
With teammates Marcus Rashford and Antony out of form and Jadon Sancho out of favour Garnacho is now a regular starter for Ten Hag and his form in front of goal will only help to cement his place in the team. 16/54.20 is a great price for him to score anytime on Saturday evening.
United can cut down Nuno Forest
The sacking of Steve Cooper caused a lot of outcry amongst Nottingham Forest fans but new boss, Nuno Espirito Santo, went a long way to winning the crowd over on Boxing Day as a masterminded a 3-1 win over Newcastle. However, the arrival of Manchester United may not bring quite as much success.
The two sides have faced each other four times already in 2023 with United winning them all by an aggregate score of 10-2. Unfortunately for the Forest faithful, Nuno has a similarly poor record against United, facing them seven times as a manager and winning just once.
Ten Hag's side are 13/102.30 to pick up a 12th straight victory over Forest but those looking to avoid any stoppage time drama can still back them at 11/102.11 in the Match Odds 90 market.
Gibbs-White looking for repeat performance
Both goals Forest have scored against United this year came the last time these two teams faced each other at Old Trafford back in August. On that day Forest were 2-0 up inside five minutes before the hosts came back to win it in the second half. Both goals were set up by the predigiously talented Morgan Gibbs-White.
The England youth international is the heartbeat of this Nottingham side and if they are to have any success on Saturday it will likely come through him. Chris Wood's Boxing Day hat-trick stole the headlines and given Andre Onana's somewhat haphazard approach to defending set pieces I wouldn't be surprised to see Wood and Gibbs-White combine to get Forst on the scoresheet.
A single on Forest's number 10 to score or assist anytime is 7/52.40 but I'm combining it with a Garnacho goal to create an 8/19.00 Bet Builder.
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