Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest: Ones To Watch (Premier League)

Manchester United host Nottingham Forest in the Premier League tonight, and both sides were two of the division’s heaviest spenders last summer.

Manchester United‘s signings have hit the ground running, whilst Forest’s have not quite gotten going so much as of yet. In recent weeks it has improved, and tonight their talented squad will look to take on Erik ten Hag‘s men. With that said, here are my two players to watch tonight:

Manchester United – Marcus Rashford

The Marcus Rashford revenge tour continues, and if any player was to replicate Solskjaer’s four-goal feat from that 98/99 season it feels like Rashford would be the man to do it.

England’s joint-top scorer at the World Cup, despite being criminally underutilized, marked his return to club football with a goal on Wednesday night against Burnley and he will be feeling confident heading into this one.

Marcus Rashford has scored nine goals so far this campaign, and assisted a further three – making him Manchester United’s top goal scorer so far this season – and if he wants to beat his best scoring season so far (where he netted 21 goals during the 2020/21 season), he will need to capitalise on opposition such as Forest.

Nottingham Forest – Jesse Lingard

Who else? Lingard was a Red Devil from the age of six until the summer, and he was at a point one of the fanbase’s most beloved players. Lingard never truly got a send-off from Old Trafford and will be hoping that tonight is his chance for one.

United will be weary of the threat he carries in transition, and on a night where they are unlikely to have either of their first-choice centre back pairing of Lisandro Martínez and Raphaël Varane they will need to be extra weary of this.

Lingard has stated that he has a point to prove ahead of this fixture, claiming in recent days that he feels the club should have given him a send-off when his contract expired at the end of June last season.

Read More: Jesse Lingard claims “false promises” at Manchester United

Regardless of the result, many fans will be happy to see the man who scored in three finals and lifted four trophies while at the club.