Manchester United 2-0 (5-0) Nottingham Forest: Erik ten Hag reaches first final

Manchester United have reached their first final under Erik ten Hag as they defeated Nottingham Forest 5-0 across two legs in the Carabao Cup semi-final.

After defeating Nottingham Forest 3-0 in the first leg at the City Ground, Manchester United followed this up with a second 2-0 victory at Old Trafford, with Anthony Martial and Fred getting the goals for Erik ten Hag.

Just ahead of kick off, it was bad luck once again for Jesse Lingard at Old Trafford, with the player having to be taken out of the Forest XI after sustaining an injury in the warm-up.

The most interesting part of the opening 10 minutes was that the ball had to be changed because it was flat – much like the start of the fixture. Forest did look very organised as a defensive unit, with United finding it hard to penetrate their back line.

On the 15 minute mark, Alejandro Garnacho had Old Trafford on its feet with a brilliant dribble into the area, with Nico Williams causing him to fall and no penalty awarded – despite the fact that Williams did not touch the ball.

Just as expected, Manchester United had control of the game from minute one. After the initial good defensive line from Forest, United continued to push for the opening goal, with Casemiro forcing a save from Wayne Hennessey with a close-range header.

Brennan Johnson was presented with Forest’s first big opportunity of the game with 10 minutes to go before half time, with the Welshman blasting straight at Tom Heaton. Minutes later, Antony let fly with a wonderful volleyed effort from 25 yards which flew just over the bar.

The best chance of the half fell to Emmanuel Dennis right before half time, but his own teammate Sam Surridge blocked the shot, deflecting the ball away to safety as the first half drew to a close.

In the second half, Garnacho was becoming increasingly heated in his battle with Johnson, and Ten Hag took the opportunity to take the young winger off alongside Antony and Wout Weghorst. In their place, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, and Jadon Sancho all came on with 30 minutes left to play, with Sancho receiving a huge roar as he took to the pitch once again.

Almost immediately the new front three were in action, with the ball bouncing around the Forest area while none of them could get a cleans shot off.

Eventually, after a drub first 73 minutes, it was Martial who finally broke the deadlock; pouncing on a rebound from Rashford’s blocked effort.

Just three minutes later Fred knocked the ball into an empty net from a yard out, assisted by Marcus Rashford. The truly magnificent part of the goal, though, was Bruno Fernandes’ outside-the-boot pass to find Marcus Rashford at the back left post… He’s a damn good football player.

Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof replaced Casemiro and Raphael Varane in the final 10 minutes to see the game out. Tom Heaton had a few saves to make against Forest and he did his job brilliantly, making sure United get their 16th clean sheet of the season.

Manchester United are through and off to Wembley, where they will meet Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final.