🔗 Share this article Aston Villa v Forest: Premier League Match Preview Preamble Hello and welcome to this English top-flight clash between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Aston Villa are the strong favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are flying this season and are currently in third, while Nottingham Forest are seventeenth and just four points outside of the relegation zone. Both clubs are entering the game off of the back of a loss as Villa were defeated 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest succumbed 2-0 to Everton. It will be a tough task for the visitors to obtain 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 a new year and a new narrative? All will become clear very soon. The starting lineups will be released shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT. Team News The starting XIs have been announced. The Villa boss has made a quartet of alterations to his first eleven who lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time out. 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 adjustments to their matchday squad after a 2-0 defeat to Everton. Nott’m Forest: Victor, Williams, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, I Jesus, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Aina. Bench: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott. Pre-Match Quotes Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has said on his counterpart today: "Emery has delivered a excellent job as a manager there. Their signings has been impressive - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve moulded it into a strong side, so certainly a tough game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve played against some of the bigger teams, or the ones that are fancied every year, and held our own against them - and a couple of teams maybe not as fancied, we haven't performed as strongly against them. That’s probably the challenge of the group - rising to the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures." Transfer Update Harvey Elliott has will not be staying at Aston Villa, an update that was confirmed by the manager Unai Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss commented: "We respect him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very respectful. The problem we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan 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." League Context How times change. This time last year Forest were third in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have shifted, including the manager on two occasions and the current boss is tasked with keeping the club in the Premier League this season. Since being named manager on 21 October, Dyche has secured 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.
Preamble Hello and welcome to this English top-flight clash between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Aston Villa are the strong favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are flying this season and are currently in third, while Nottingham Forest are seventeenth and just four points outside of the relegation zone. Both clubs are entering the game off of the back of a loss as Villa were defeated 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest succumbed 2-0 to Everton. It will be a tough task for the visitors to obtain 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 a new year and a new narrative? All will become clear very soon. The starting lineups will be released shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT.
Team News The starting XIs have been announced. The Villa boss has made a quartet of alterations to his first eleven who lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time out. 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 adjustments to their matchday squad after a 2-0 defeat to Everton. Nott’m Forest: Victor, Williams, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, I Jesus, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Aina. Bench: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott.
Pre-Match Quotes Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has said on his counterpart today: "Emery has delivered a excellent job as a manager there. Their signings has been impressive - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve moulded it into a strong side, so certainly a tough game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve played against some of the bigger teams, or the ones that are fancied every year, and held our own against them - and a couple of teams maybe not as fancied, we haven't performed as strongly against them. That’s probably the challenge of the group - rising to the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures."
Transfer Update Harvey Elliott has will not be staying at Aston Villa, an update that was confirmed by the manager Unai Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss commented: "We respect him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very respectful. The problem we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan 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."
League Context How times change. This time last year Forest were third in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have shifted, including the manager on two occasions and the current boss is tasked with keeping the club in the Premier League this season. Since being named manager on 21 October, Dyche has secured 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.