MANCHESTER UNITED VICTORY IN THEIR EPL SEMI-FINAL MATCH AGAINST NOTTINGAM FOREST

Erik ten Hag's team won the night thanks to goals from Anthony Martial and Fred in the second half, even though their 3-0 victory in the first leg at the City Ground almost guaranteed them a spot in the final.

After a pass intended for Marcus Rashford was deflected back to the French striker 17 minutes from time, Martial scored his sixth goal of the season, marking his return from a four-match injury absence.
Within the next 180 seconds, United scored again when Fred lobbed the ball into an empty net from just a yard out with his knee after Bruno Fernandes picked out Rashford with a brilliant curling cross-field pass. The England player then turned the ball over to Fred.

From an executive box, new signing Marcel Sabitzer watched as United got within one victory of winning their first trophy since 2017.

Jadon Sancho, an England winger who hadn't played since October, also played again after Ten Hag put him on a one-on-one training plan to help him get back to his best amid physical and mental issues.
Even though their lack of success isn't as bad as Newcastle's, United is aware that if they don't win this season, it will be the club's longest drought without a trophy since 1968, when they won the European Cup.

In his program notes, Manager Ten Hag referred to the requirements placed on him, saying: The pursuit of honors must always be the goal for this club.

They will do so without Christian Eriksen, whose ankle injury has robbed United of arguably their most creative force, at least for the next three months.
As a result, Martial and Sancho return just in time.

Ten Hag considers Martial to be his ideal number nine because of his fluidity and ability to move around.

Even though Sancho hasn't been seen much since his return to England from Borussia Dortmund in 2021, his ability to direct run is well known.

In the second leg of their historic treble 24 years ago, United defeated Newcastle in the FA Cup final.
They will be acutely aware that playing Barcelona in the Europa League, three days before the EFL Cup final on February 26, will not make their task any easier this time.

Even though their optimistic pre-match song "We're gonna win 4-0" was off, their large away crowd had a good time, and there was never any chance that Forest could save the situation.
When Jesse Lingard was injured during the warm-up, his chances of playing against his former club vanished.

Emmanuel Dennis, Forest's new player, could have scored just before halftime with a shot that could have gone in if Sam Surridge hadn't tried to get out of the way and missed.

Before the final whistle, Danilo made an incredible save from Tom Heaton, and Surridge missed the rebound with the goal at his mercy.

On the day of the deadline, Brazilian defender Felipe, midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, and three-time winner of the Champions League Keylor Navas emerged from the revolving door that is Forest's recruitment department. As a result, manager Steve Cooper will have more change to manage over the final 18 games of a first top-flight campaign in more than two decades in which survival is the primary objective.

Despite the disappointment of losing to the same team twice in a week, the Welshman has done a great job so far, and he can rest assured that his team was competitive for long periods in both games.
VAR Michael Salisbury was asked to look into a possible red card for United winger Alejandro Garnacho and Forest forward Brennan Johnson in the first half. The two players had argued not far from the visitors' technical area.

It was quickly decided that the incident did not merit dismissal.
Johnson was mentioned to the referee by Peter Bankes, but nothing was done.
When asked about the cause of Johnson's fury, Forest boss Steve Cooper gave a very blunt response: I'm not going to comment on that.