At the City Ground on Sunday, Manchester United defeated relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest 2-0 while managing its injury list. Antony scored a goal and assisted a Diogo Dalot goal.

Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez were replaced by Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof, who both performed admirably. Maguire will consider himself fortunate to have escaped a handball call, which has been made frequently this season.

Truth be told, if Keylor Navas, the goalkeeper for Forest, hadn't made the saves and interventions he did, the game might have ended much sooner than it did.

With three more points than Newcastle United, Man United moves into third place with 59. Despite having played one more game than Man United and Newcastle, Spurs and Villa are tied for fifth place with 53 and 50 points, respectively.

Despite being below the points pace, Brighton in seventh place and Liverpool in eighth place still have two games left to play to move up to third and fourth place, respectively.

The previous 10 Premier League games Forest played were losses. The Tricky Trees, who have 27 points, are two points below Leeds United and equal for 18th place with Everton. Still to play is for Leeds.

Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof supported manager Erik ten Hag's confidence in their skills despite the fact that it wasn't quite "No Varane, no Lisandro, no problem" and that they were playing a less-than-dangerous opponent.

Although it was on a cross into a tangle of bodies, Maguire was fortunate to avoid a handball call early on. Lindelof, however, was basically error-free as the pair combined for 18 recoveries and 9 clearances.

Add a nice cosy couch. Before escaping with no harm, David De Gea and United relished the challenge. If Keylor Navas hadn't been between the sticks at the opposite end, this would have been a 4-0 or 5-0 rout.

Before playing Brighton at the weekend's FA Cup semifinal, Man United travels to Sevilla on Thursday. Prior to its Saturday trip to Anfield to face Liverpool, Nottingham Forest has almost a week off.