🔗 Share this article Aston Villa versus Nottingham Forest: Top-Flight Preview Introduction Welcome everyone to this English top-flight encounter between Villa and Forest. The home side are the strong favourites to win in this early kick-off as they are flying this season and are currently in third, while Forest are 17th and just a handful of points outside of the relegation zone. Both clubs are coming into the game following a setback 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 Sean Dyche’s side to obtain all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home records in Europe at the moment and they also achieved a team record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But perhaps it’s new year, new story? We will find out very soon. The confirmed XIs will be released 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 lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time around. Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Bench: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. Nottingham Forest have likewise made four changes to their starting squad after a 2-0 loss 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. Manager Comments Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has remarked on his opponent today: "Emery has delivered a great job as a manager there. Their transfer business has been impressive - invested a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve moulded it into a cohesive team, so definitely a challenging game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve faced some of the top sides, or the ones that are favoured every year, and done very well against them - and a couple of teams maybe not as highly-rated, we haven't performed as strongly against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - meeting the expectation of each game rather than just the big games." Squad News The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, news that was stated by the manager Unai Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss stated: "I am respecting him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very respectful. The issue we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is playing matches, we must buy him. We made the decision two months ago we are not persuaded to make the move permanent, committing the money we need." Season Snapshot How times change. This time last year Nottingham Forest were third in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have shifted, including the manager twice and the current boss is tasked with keeping the club in the Premier League this season. Since being appointed on 21 October, Dyche has accumulated 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.
Introduction Welcome everyone to this English top-flight encounter between Villa and Forest. The home side are the strong favourites to win in this early kick-off as they are flying this season and are currently in third, while Forest are 17th and just a handful of points outside of the relegation zone. Both clubs are coming into the game following a setback 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 Sean Dyche’s side to obtain all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home records in Europe at the moment and they also achieved a team record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But perhaps it’s new year, new story? We will find out very soon. The confirmed XIs will be released 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 lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time around. Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Bench: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. Nottingham Forest have likewise made four changes to their starting squad after a 2-0 loss 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.
Manager Comments Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has remarked on his opponent today: "Emery has delivered a great job as a manager there. Their transfer business has been impressive - invested a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve moulded it into a cohesive team, so definitely a challenging game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve faced some of the top sides, or the ones that are favoured every year, and done very well against them - and a couple of teams maybe not as highly-rated, we haven't performed as strongly against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - meeting the expectation of each game rather than just the big games."
Squad News The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, news that was stated by the manager Unai Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss stated: "I am respecting him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very respectful. The issue we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is playing matches, we must buy him. We made the decision two months ago we are not persuaded to make the move permanent, committing the money we need."
Season Snapshot How times change. This time last year Nottingham Forest were third in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have shifted, including the manager twice and the current boss is tasked with keeping the club in the Premier League this season. Since being appointed on 21 October, Dyche has accumulated 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.