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On Wednesday night, Nottingham Forest will travel to face Manchester United in the second leg of their EFL Cup semi-final, hoping to pull off an unlikely comeback.
If Manchester United can escape a catastrophic collapse here, they will face either Southampton or Newcastle United in the final at Wembley, thanks to last week's 3-0 victory at the City Ground.
Despite not winning either of their last two Premier League matches against Crystal Palace and Arsenal, which was not ideal preparation for a cup semi-final, Man United scored three goals (all of which came at favorable times in the match) to establish a substantial first-leg lead at Forest's home field.
Marcus Rashford scored the opening goal after just six minutes, Wout Weghorst scored his first goal for the Red Devils right before halftime, and Bruno Fernandes added the finishing touch after 89 minutes.
As a former manager of Ajax, where his successor Alfred Schreuder was recently fired, Ten Hag is no stranger to trophy glory. With just 180 minutes remaining in the season, he has a chance to lead Man United to their first trophy since 2017.
Indeed, a powerful Red Devils XI breezed over Reading 3-1 in the FA Cup fourth round at the weekend, with goals from Casemiro (2) and Fred (1), extending Man United's scoring run to a staggering 19 games across all competitions.
Even though no club has ever been ousted from the EFL Cup semi-finals after holding a 3-0 lead from the first leg, some Man United supporters may be wary of rooting for a win since the Red Devils have lost all three EFL Cup finals after winning both legs of the semi-finals.
Forest, led by Steve Cooper, are looking to accomplish the unthinkable and overcome a three-goal deficit in the EFL Cup semi-finals.
Even though the visitors to the Theatre of Dreams have had a full week to regroup and prepare for Wednesday's match following their embarrassing FA Cup third-round elimination to Blackpool, few Forest followers will be dreaming of a stunning comeback.
Even if they lose in the semi-finals, Nottingham Forest will have made it further than they have in the EFL Cup in 31 years, when they lost to Manchester United in the final in the 1991–92 season. However, the steadily-improving visitors can still take advantage of any signs of complacency from their more esteemed hosts.
The Tricky Trees have only lost twice in their previous five away matches across all competitions, and each of their last three away encounters have resulted in at least one goal scored.
Forest's 3-0 loss in the semi-first final's leg was the club's ninth straight loss to Man United across all competitions, and the last time the Tricky Trees won on the road at Old Trafford was in the 1994–1995 Premier League season.
