One of three sides to win all of their Premier League games in October, United started well and Benjamin Sesko perhaps ought to have done better with two presentable chances at the City Ground in the opening quarter-hour, firing wide of the target on both occasions.
The Tricky Trees, who rarely troubled Senne Lammens in the visitors’ goal, also saw Douglas Luiz depart early with a muscular problem.
Elliot Anderson’s influence on proceedings as the half wore on was noticeable, though it was Sesko again who had the best chances to open the scoring, yet he failed to control through balls from Bryan Mbeumo and Luke Shaw.
A flying save by Matz Sels denied Amad Diallo after a well-worked United move, and a contentiously awarded corner not long afterwards saw Casemiro rise highest to power home a deserved opener - the Brazilian’s fifth goal involvement in eight appearances against Forest.
Callum Hudson-Odoi’s speculative long-range daisy cutter as half-time approached summed up Forest’s first half, with Shaw and Matthijs de Ligt in particular enjoying a busy but excellent first half in the United defence.
A period of sustained Forest pressure at the start of the second half paid handsome rewards, as they netted twice in the space of 92 seconds to completely turn the game on its head.
First, Morgan Gibbs-White met Ryan Yates’ cross and looped a header past Lammens, before more poor marking in the box from a cross allowed Nicolo Savona to nip in and bury a second to send the home support delirious.
Ruben Amorim’s men set about a recovery, with captain Bruno Fernandes seeing his effort bounce back off the foot of the post.
It was Forest in the ascendancy as the game reached the latter stages, and Hudson-Odoi was a whisker away from their third after a driving run and shot.
The hosts sat back on their lead, but that proved to be their undoing as they failed to clear a corner and Amad smashed home a left-footed volley to draw United level.
Both sides had chances to win the game late on, with the visitors coming the closest when Murillo blocked Amad’s effort on the line.
The result meant that United weren’t able to win back-to-back away games for the first time this season, with the Red Devils winning just one of their last 10 Premier League games away from Old Trafford.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)
