Anthony Elanga’s stunning first half goal was enough for Nottingham Forest to claim three Premier League points against Manchester United at The City Ground.
The Forest winger stormed through the United defence with just five minutes played in NG2 to secure the win for Nuno Espírito Santo’s Reds.
The Reds battled throughout to hold the lead and claim a successive 1-0 home win in the league.
The visitors fashioned the first chance of the match when Bruno Fernandes let fly from the edge of the Forest box, forcing Matz Sels to parry the ball past his right-hand post.
After the Reds cleared the resulting corner, Nuno’s side would head straight down the other end of the field and open the scoring.
Well, Elanga would more specifically.
The Forest winger collected the ball inside his own half, drove at the United defence, shrugged off the challenge of Alejandro Garnacho and placed the ball beyond André Onana with aplomb.
Just before the half-hour mark, United pressed for an equaliser when Diogo Dalot met Fernandes’ corner, clipping the Forest crossbar, with Sels quick and alert to deny Matthijis de Ligt on the follow-up.
Substitute Morato went close to adding a second on the stroke of half-time when his looping header was held by Onana, but the Reds went in a goal to the good at the break.
Half-time: Forest 1-0 Man Utd
Nuno’s charges emerged for the second half on the front foot as Ryan Yates saw a close-range headed effort parried away by Onana.
At the other end of the field, Man Utd maintained some pressure on the Forest goal without really calling Sels into action.
Garnacho dragged an effort wide on 70 minutes after Fernandes’ corner made its way to the United winger’s feet, before second half substitute Mason Mount fired just wide of goal from the edge of the box with 11 minutes remaining at The City Ground.
The Reds looked a threat on the counter, and working tirelessly in the middle of the park to keep the ball in Forest’s possession.
Late substitute Harry Maguire headed wide in added time before Murillo cleared off the Man Utd defender's poked effort off line in the final seconds of the contest to secure the win for the Reds.
Forest travel to Aston Villa on Saturday in our next Premier League outing with another three crucial Premier League points on the line.
Full time: Forest 1-0 Man Utd
Nott'm Forest: Sels, Aina (Moreno 39'), Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams, Yates, Anderson (Domínguez 67'), Elanga (Sosa 86'), Gibbs-White, Danilo (Morato 40'), Awoniyi (Sangaré 86')
Subs: Morato, Sangaré, Toffolo, Domínguez, Moreno, Jota Silva, Sosa, Boly, Carlos Miguel
Man Utd: Onana, Yoro (Maguire 88'), de Ligt, Mazraoui, Diogo Dalot, Ugarte (Højlund 45'), Casemiro (Eriksen 59'), Dorgu, Garnacho, Bruno Fernandes, Zirkzee (Mount 78')
Subs: Bayindir, Lindelöf, Maguire, Mount, Højlund, Eriksen, Amass, Koné, Collyer