Super Eagles strikers caged by World Cup stars as Nottingham Forest lose to Man Utd

Nigeria internationals Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis fired blanks Tuesday night in Nottingham Forest's 3-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford as the team played their first Premier League game post the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

 
2022 World Cup stars Luke Shaw and Raphael Varane started in central defence for Manchester United, while Harry Maguire, who started all the matches played by England in Qatar, replaced the Frenchman with 13 minutes to go.

Forest remained in 19th place in the Premier League table while United's win lifted them to 5th place with 29 points on the board.

Awoniyi was playing in his 14th Premier League game of the season in which he has scored thrice since the start of the 2022/2023 campaign.

Awoniyi's compatriot Emmanuel Dennis played in his 10th league game when he came off the bench in place of Orel Mangala. The former Watford forward has one goal to his credit this season.

Nottingham Forest, buoyed by their impressive 4-1 victory over Blackburn in the Carabao Cup last week, were targeting a win in a bid to get off the relegation zone while Erik ten Hag's side has now moved within one point of Tottenham and the top four.

Marcus Rashford scored the opener in the 19th minute, latching on a pass from Christian Eriksen from a corner kick with an unstoppable shot to the top right corner.

United made it 2-0 three minutes later through Anthony Martial from a blistering counter attack as he profited from a Marcus Rashford pass.

Portugal international Bruno Fernandes started the move from United's half and worked the ball to Rashford before finding the Frenchman.

Awoniyi was fouled in the buildup to the goal  but play went ahead despite that.

Antony attempted an audacious curling shot but goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was relieved to see the ball loop over the bar.

Nottingham Forest's initial joy after midfielder, Ryan Yates pulled one goal back right before the half-time break was cut short as the VAR review spotted defender Willy Boly in an offside position.

Awoniyi teed up Yates after he made a promising run into the United half but the eventual shot let fly by the midfielder was tipped around the post by David de Gea in goal for United.

The game was fairly comfortable for United for large parts of that first half but their goal threats were increasingly decreased when Awoniyi was substituted by Sam Surridge at the hour mark.

Dennis then followed Surridge afterwards in making his way into the game but was unable to add to his solitary goal in the top-flight this season.

United made it 3-0 in the 87th minute and effectively over for Nottingham Forest when substitute Fred was left unmarked as fellow Brazilian Casemiro intercepted the ball and found him with a defence-splitting pass just as Forest attempted to break from a counter.

Izuchukwu Michael

Photo Credit : manutd.com

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