After a frantic start on the banks of the River Trent saw both sides trade early blows, it was Manchester United who settled quicker, and they came close to taking the lead when Bruno Fernandes’ thunderous effort was repelled by Keylor Navas.
Forest took slightly longer to find their rhythm, but when they did they came even closer than their Champions League spot-chasing visitors, with Scott McKenna’s effort crashing back off the post.
Forest were soon left rueing that missed opportunity as well, when some lax defending allowed Anthony Martial the freedom of Nottingham to fire an effort goalwards, which was tapped home on the rebound by the onrushing Antony, despite Navas’ best efforts.
That goal seemed to spur Forest into life though, and they wrested back more territory as the first-half reached its conclusion.
With the slight change in momentum, an equaliser was nearly forthcoming before the break, as Diogo Dalot’s heavy touch opened up shooting space for Taiwo Awoniyi, who failed to hit the target from 12 yards.
And whatever United boss Erik ten Hag said in the dressing room at the interval sent his United side out reinvigorated, with Fernandes coming just a lick of paint away from scoring, after Navas produced a stunning stop to push his effort onto the bar.
United pressure was again building on the Forest goal, but the Tricky Trees were still in the game after an effort from Antony whistled wide, before Christian Eriksen’s effort was beaten away by the almost-impenetrable Navas.
However, Antony was still proving to be Forest’s tormentor-in-chief, and having opened the scoring, he then turned provider to thread a deft ball through for Diogo Dalot to slot home on his 100th Manchester United appearance.
The game was well and truly up now, and Forest could perhaps count themselves fortunate only to lose 2-0, after Fernandes’ free-kick whistled inches wide of the post.
Even so, they will be acutely aware their fate won’t be decided on days like today. As for United, the result caps off a perfect weekend in their efforts to complete the podium behind Arsenal and Manchester City, after Tottenham and Newcastle both lost yesterday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Antony (Manchester United)
