🔗 Share this article Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest: Top-Flight Preview Opening Thoughts Welcome everyone to this English top-flight fixture between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Villa will be the favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are soaring this season and are currently sitting third, while Nottingham Forest are in 17th position and just a handful of points outside of the relegation zone. Both clubs are entering the game following a defeat as Villa were beaten 4-1 by top-of-the-table Arsenal and Forest succumbed 2-0 to Everton. This promises to be a difficult task for Forest to come away with all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home records in Europe at the moment and they also set a club record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But perhaps it’s new year, new story? All will become clear very soon. The team news will drop shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT. Team News The lineups have been confirmed. The Villa boss has made four changes to his starting lineup who were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal last time around. Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Substitutes: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. Nottingham Forest have also made four changes to their matchday squad after a 2-0 loss to Everton. Nott’m Forest: Victor, Williams, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, I Jesus, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Aina. Substitutes: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott. Dugout Insights Forest boss Sean Dyche has commented on his counterpart today: "He’s [Unai Emery] done a great job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been strong - invested a lot of money, to be fair, on some top players and they’ve shaped it into a strong side, so certainly a tough game. We’ve just shown lately, we’ve faced some of the top sides, or the ones that are tipped every year, and held our own against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as highly-rated, we haven’t done as well against them. That’s probably the test of the group - meeting the challenge of each game rather than just the big games." Squad News The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, an update that was revealed by the manager Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss stated: "We respect him as much as possible because he’s a top professional, very respectful. The situation we have with Harvey is this year he is a loan player and if he is playing matches, we are obligated to buy him. We made the decision two months ago we are not persuaded to make the move permanent, committing the money we would need to." Season Snapshot What a difference a year makes. This time last year Nottingham Forest were third in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have altered, including the manager on two occasions and Sean Dyche is charged with keeping the club in the Premier League this season. Since being appointed on 21 October, Dyche has won 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the relegation zone with 19 games of the season remaining.
Opening Thoughts Welcome everyone to this English top-flight fixture between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Villa will be the favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are soaring this season and are currently sitting third, while Nottingham Forest are in 17th position and just a handful of points outside of the relegation zone. Both clubs are entering the game following a defeat as Villa were beaten 4-1 by top-of-the-table Arsenal and Forest succumbed 2-0 to Everton. This promises to be a difficult task for Forest to come away with all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home records in Europe at the moment and they also set a club record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But perhaps it’s new year, new story? All will become clear very soon. The team news will drop shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT.
Team News The lineups have been confirmed. The Villa boss has made four changes to his starting lineup who were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal last time around. Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Substitutes: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. Nottingham Forest have also made four changes to their matchday squad after a 2-0 loss to Everton. Nott’m Forest: Victor, Williams, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, I Jesus, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Aina. Substitutes: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott.
Dugout Insights Forest boss Sean Dyche has commented on his counterpart today: "He’s [Unai Emery] done a great job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been strong - invested a lot of money, to be fair, on some top players and they’ve shaped it into a strong side, so certainly a tough game. We’ve just shown lately, we’ve faced some of the top sides, or the ones that are tipped every year, and held our own against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as highly-rated, we haven’t done as well against them. That’s probably the test of the group - meeting the challenge of each game rather than just the big games."
Squad News The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, an update that was revealed by the manager Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss stated: "We respect him as much as possible because he’s a top professional, very respectful. The situation we have with Harvey is this year he is a loan player and if he is playing matches, we are obligated to buy him. We made the decision two months ago we are not persuaded to make the move permanent, committing the money we would need to."
Season Snapshot What a difference a year makes. This time last year Nottingham Forest were third in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have altered, including the manager on two occasions and Sean Dyche is charged with keeping the club in the Premier League this season. Since being appointed on 21 October, Dyche has won 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the relegation zone with 19 games of the season remaining.