Espirito Santo hailed the improvement in the setup following Forest’s win at Old Trafford

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo hailed his side’s improvement as a key factor in their first win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in 30 years.

Defender Nikola Milenkovic found the net from a corner after just 90 seconds as Forest won 3-2 to hand United boss and Espirito Santo compatriot Ruben Amorim his second defeat.

Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood also scored, with the latter writing his name into the history books by becoming Forest’s all-time top scorer in the Premier League.

Hojlund leveled for United a quarter of an hour after Milenkovic’s opener and Bruno Fernandes – who was partly to blame for Gibbs-White’s strike almost immediately after the restart – pulled one back for the hosts.

Nikola Milenkovic scored the first goal for Nottingham Forest! ⚽⚡ pic.twitter.com/Ni1AMQBydE

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 7, 2024

But Forest held on for a famous victory, much to the delight of their manager.

“We showed togetherness, belief, desire to improve and belief that we can go and compete against any team,” Espirito Santo told Sky Sports.

“The start of the match is very important. How we start is a huge detail and changes everything.

“We know United are a great team and they should have responded. In the first half, we were not fully organized. The start of the second half was huge.

“So that means a lot. The path we are trying to make together makes sense as long as everyone believes. “Even if you come off the bench, you can play your part.”

On the importance of dead ball situations, the Forest boss added: “We always try to be consistent in our set pieces. It’s something we’ve been improving on. Thank God it went right because we spend a lot of time on the field trying to replicate.

“The only thing I think we should have done better is counter attack. We didn’t achieve too much.

“But the unity of the team was good.”

Birthday present for our record @PremierLeague goal scorer. 🎁 pic.twitter.com/YjaLTPGOzk

— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) December 7, 2024

Gibbs-White also praised striker Wood and admitted he enjoyed playing with the 33-year-old.

“I want to work with Woody (Wood). “He’s an incredible striker to work with,” said Gibbs-White.

“I just know exactly where he will be, what he will do. He always peels the defenders, comes forward. I chose him nicely but, to be fair to him, he did the whole job.

“I want to play with him at the moment.”