Nottingham Forest F.C. 1–8 Manchester United F.C.
The City Ground, the venue of the match
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| Event | 1998–99 FA Premier League | ||||||
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| Date | 6 February 1999 | ||||||
| Venue | City Ground, Nottingham | ||||||
| Referee | Paul Alcock (Kent) | ||||||
| Attendance | 30,025 | ||||||
The 1998–99 season match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United at the City Ground took place on 6 February 1999. Manchester United won the match 8–1, thereby recording the largest away win in the history of the Premier League. Substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored four of Manchester United's eight goals, setting a record for the most goals scored by a substitute in one match. This is also one of the rare occurrences when United played a football match on the anniversary date of the Munich air disaster.
Manchester United began the month of February on top of the Premier League by one point after beating Charlton Athletic 1–0 away, while then-league leaders Chelsea lost away to Arsenal by the same margin. Another 1–0 win over Derby County in mid-week extended United's lead to four points going into the weekend of 6 February 1999.
Despite a 1–0 win away to Everton on 30 January – their first win since August 1998 – Nottingham Forest went into the weekend rooted to the bottom of the table, with just three wins to their name all season and only 16 points, 31 behind their opponents.Ron Atkinson had replaced Dave Bassett as Forest manager the previous month, and the United clash was to be his third match at the Forest helm.
Before the match, the two teams had met 104 times in competitive matches, with Manchester United winning 47 and Nottingham Forest winning 33. The two teams had a similar record in the league, with Manchester United leading 43–29 in terms of wins. They also met in the 1992 Football League Cup Final, which Manchester United won 1–0 via a Brian McClair goal. Nottingham Forest's biggest home win against Manchester United came on 2 May 1990, when they won 4–0 in front of 21,186 fans at the City Ground, while Manchester United's biggest win at Nottingham Forest was a 5–1 victory on 12 December 1959 in front of 31,666 spectators.
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