On Wednesday, February 1, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest will play the semi-final of the English League Cup in football at Old Trafford in Manchester. Referee Peter Banks’ starting whistle will sound at 22:00 Kyiv time.
Manchester United
The arrival of the Dutch specialist Erik ten Hag to the post of head coach of Manchester United last summer was perceived by the fans quite cautiously, and when the new head coach had serious problems at the start of a new campaign, he was immediately “fired” from his post behind his back. However, with those defeats from Brighton (1:2) and Brentford (0:4), the mentor, as it turned out later, only warmed up the coaching bench, and without them we would not have seen the victory over Liverpool, Arsenal ”, “Tottenham”, “Manchester city”, as well as promotion to the next round of the UEFA Europa League.
In their long history, the Red Devils are used to fighting on four fronts at once, only in the current realities this experience will be almost exclusive for them. Very soon, United will play their matches against the Catalan Barcelona, but until that moment they have the opportunity to take the last step towards the final in the least significant tournament in terms of status, after which they finally stop thinking about it at least for some sane period . A 3-0 away victory in the first leg, even though away goals have no special status in the current realities, should help ten Haga’s team to finally liberate themselves. The main thing is not to overdo it during this.
Nottingham Forest
The strategy of the legendary Nottingham Forest, which has two Champions Cups, a league title, a pair of FA Cups and four League Cups, for the first campaign in the English Premier League in many years is quite difficult to realize on the first try. Steve Cooper was actually showered with money, saying to assemble a team of football players who would agree to take part in the pilot project at their own peril and risk. At the same time, the number of incoming transfers of the “foresters” has long exceeded 20, which tells us only one thing – there is no question of any systemic approach in this club at the moment, but this only turns it into a fight for every match. survival.
The gamble in the first game against Manchester United frankly failed, so we have a very slim prospect of seeing the club from West Bridgford at Wembley this season. The avalanche of injuries to key players also leaves Cooper unable to play with the starting XI for almost a week of pause between cup matches. We can only hope for a chance, but rather 13th place in the Premier League standings and a series of four matches without defeat in the championship is now in first place for Nottingham.
Estimated compositions
“Manchester United”: de Gea – Shaw, Varane, Martinez, Wan-Bissaka – Casemiro, Fred – Garnacho, Fernandes, Elanga – Weghorst.
Nottingham Forest: Hennessy – Lodi, Pain, Worrell, Aurier – Freuler, Danilo, Mangala – Scarpa – Dennis, Johnson.
Out: Tuanzebe, Shaw, van de Beek, Eriksen, McTominay, Martial, Dalot-Biancon, Avoni, Gibbs-White, Kouyate, Niakate, Richards, Henderson, Yates, Wood, Colbeck.
Forecast for confrontation
We believe that in the upcoming match, the team of Erik ten Hag will confidently move to the final at Wembley. Our bet will be the position – Handicap. Manchester United (-1) with a coefficient of 1.71 on the Parimatch line.
February 1, Wednesday
Manchester United – Nottingham Forest (first leg – 3: 0)
Manchester. “Old Trafford”. 22:00 Live TV broadcast – Setanta video service
Arbitrator: Peter Banks (England) Forecast Aroged – 2:0
