Who was Man of the Match against Forest?

Sunday 16 April 2023 19:45

Manchester United cruised to a 2-0 win against Nottingham Forest with goals from Antony and Diogo Dalot, in a controlling display at the City Ground.

It was a dominant performance from Erik ten Hag’s side from start to finish in Nottinghamshire, and they hit the front just after the half-hour mark when Keylor Navas palmed a low Anthony Martial strike into the path of Antony, who finished from the rebound.

Antony then turned provider in the second half when he danced infield from the right flank and reversed a clever pass in behind the hosts' defence to find Dalot, who took one touch before finishing beyond Navas.

There were chances aplenty aside from goals, too, with Bruno Fernandes among those to sparkle from midfield – our no.18 was unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet himself, when Navas tipped his superb second-half shot onto the woodwork.

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Ten Hag pleased with 'solid' performance

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Casemiro and Christian Eriksen also made impressive returns to our midfield – the former back to Premier League action after a four-match domestic suspension, while Eriksen, a late replacement for Marcel Sabitzer in the line-up, made his first league start since his recovery from injury.

We were also helped to our fourth win and clean sheet of the season against Forest by three fresh faces in the backline. Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Dalot all seamlessly slotted in to our defence in a resolute display.

There were candidates all over the pitch for our Man of the Match award, then. But who did Reds select as the ultimate winner in our all-important poll? Read on to find out…

Fans on ManUtd.com and in the official United App were split between two of our players, but edging in front as the winner was Brazilian ace Antony, who received 44 per cent of the vote.

Our no.21 was, of course, at the heart of both goals in Nottinghamshire – opening the scoring in the first half by following in diligently to pounce on the rebound after Anthony Martial’s shot was saved.

Equally as impressive was his contribution to our second goal, in the 76th minute, when he cut inside from the right flank and onto his favoured left, to find himself in the type of territory where he has become accustomed to scoring some brilliant goals this term.

On this occasion, though, he showed some tricky footwork before playing a cute pass to find Dalot’s run, who took a touch before finishing beyond Navas.

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Bruno: Navas took revenge on me!

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Just behind Antony in the voting, with a 42 per cent share of the poll, was Bruno Fernandes – who did win Sky Sports’ Man of the Match award for his display at the City Ground.

Bruno has been at his creative best in midfield from a slightly deeper position of late, but was back in a more advanced role against Forest, where he caused all sorts of problems for the home side’s defence.

He was twice denied by brilliant Navas saves in the second half, and played a brilliant ball over the top of the defence to set up Eriksen for another chance, who was another player to be denied by the Forest ’keeper.

There were a host of other Reds who impressed on the day, but the vast majority of the votes were indeed split between Antony and Fernandes.

Congratulations to Antony for being voted as our Man of the Match against Forest!

For your chance to win a Manchester United shirt with Antony's name and number printed on, enter your details here.

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