Nottingham, April 2 (IANS) 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.
Fresh from booking their place in the FA Cup semi-finals with a penalty shoot-out victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, Nuno Espirito Santo’s men took another big step towards qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.
It was a trademark counter-attacking goal that decided the contest, with Elanga running from deep inside his own half before tucking home after only five minutes, Premier League reports.
Ruben Amorim’s Red Devils applied plenty of pressure thereafter but could not find an equaliser, with Harry Maguire squandering two glorious chances late on.
Elanga dedicated his goal against Manchester United to the Nottingham Forest supporters and teammates, he said, “I wanted to thank the Forest fans because they’ve supported me so much this season and last season as well.”
“It’s credit to all the players that started against Brighton and again today. Tomorrow is all about recovery because we have another big game on Saturday against Villa who are doing well as well.”
Man United remain in 13th spot, while the victory took third-placed Forest eight points clear of Chelsea and nine above Manchester City ahead of their matches later this week.
“We controlled the game, but we already knew this team can score goals out of nothing. When they scored we changed the game a little bit from what they want. We tried with good opportunities, but in the last third, the last pass, the last assist wasn’t there. Then if we don’t have that we cannot score goals,” said Man United manager Ruben Amorim.
–IANS
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