Report By Dr Talal osman
Manchester United beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 at Old Trafford to secure third place as Bruno Fernandes equalled the record for the most Premier League assists in a season. Fernandes moved to 20 top-flight assists for 2025/26, equalling the record held by Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry, as he set up Bryan Mbeumo in the 76th minute. Mbeumo had previously missed several golden chances, while the Cameroon forward was also in the thick of Man Utd’s second goal, which was netted by Matheus Cunha. Man Utd went ahead through Luke Shaw early on, but Morato’s 53rd-minute equaliser sparked a wild second half. Cunha and Mbeumo put Man Utd in control, only for Morgan Gibbs-White to net the 1,000th goal of the Premier League season and tee up a grandstand finale. But Michael Carrick’s team held on to seal third place, while Forest sit 16th on 43 points. How the match unfolded Man Utd needed just five minutes to get going. Fernandes’s looped cross was only half-cleared by Neco Williams, and Shaw was given the space and time to take the ball under his spell and drill a strike into the bottom-right corner. Mbeumo should have doubled Man Utd’s advantage but, after rounding goalkeeper Matz Sels at the culmination of a slick counter-attack, he struck a post, and Casemiro, on his final home appearance for Man Utd, prodded the rebound wide. Another Mbeumo miss, this time from Amad’s cushioned cross, looked costly when Elliot Anderson swung in a fantastic right-wing cross from which Morato nodded in. Yet Man Utd were back ahead inside two minutes as Cunha tucked the ball in following a scramble in the box, and the goal stood after a VAR check, with referee Michael Salisbury deeming a Mbeumo handball accidental. Mbeumo sliced over again soon after, but he finally had his goal when he diverted in from Fernandes’s wicked delivery. Forest reduced the deficit two minutes later as Gibbs-White expertly steered home Anderson’s low centre. Casemiro was given the chance to bid farewell to Old Trafford when he was taken off late on, and there was still time for Fernandes to set up Diogo Dalot, who struck the woodwork, before substitute Joshua Zirkzee forced Sels into a fantastic reflex save.
