🔗 Share this article Villa versus Nottingham Forest: Premier League Build-Up Opening Thoughts Hello and welcome to this Premier League encounter between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Villa will be the strong favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are flying this season and are currently in third, while Forest are seventeenth and just a handful of points outside of the drop zone. The two teams are coming into the game following a setback as Villa were beaten 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest fell 2-0 to Everton. This promises to be a difficult task for Sean Dyche’s side to come away with all three points with Villa having one of the best home forms in Europe at the moment and they also set a club record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But maybe it’s new year, new story? The answer will be revealed very soon. The starting lineups will drop shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT. Starting Elevens The lineups have been confirmed. Unai Emery has made four changes to his starting XI who lost 4-1 to Arsenal in their previous match. Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Bench: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. Forest have likewise made four adjustments 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. Bench: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott. Dugout Insights Forest boss Sean Dyche has remarked on his opponent today: "He has done a excellent job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been good - 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 taken on some of the top sides, or the ones that are favoured every year, and performed admirably against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as highly-rated, we haven’t done as well against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - meeting the challenge of each game rather than just the major fixtures." Squad News Harvey Elliott has will not be staying at Aston Villa, news that was stated by the manager Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss stated: "I am respecting him all we can because he’s a top professional, very dedicated. The issue we have with Harvey is this year he is a loan player and if he is playing matches, we must buy him. We decided two months ago we are not convinced to make the move permanent, committing the money we would need to." League Context The tables have turned. This time last year Nottingham Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have altered, including the manager on two occasions and the current boss is charged with keeping the club in the top-flight this season. Since being named manager 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.
Opening Thoughts Hello and welcome to this Premier League encounter between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Villa will be the strong favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are flying this season and are currently in third, while Forest are seventeenth and just a handful of points outside of the drop zone. The two teams are coming into the game following a setback as Villa were beaten 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest fell 2-0 to Everton. This promises to be a difficult task for Sean Dyche’s side to come away with all three points with Villa having one of the best home forms in Europe at the moment and they also set a club record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But maybe it’s new year, new story? The answer will be revealed very soon. The starting lineups will drop shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT.
Starting Elevens The lineups have been confirmed. Unai Emery has made four changes to his starting XI who lost 4-1 to Arsenal in their previous match. Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Bench: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. Forest have likewise made four adjustments 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. Bench: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott.
Dugout Insights Forest boss Sean Dyche has remarked on his opponent today: "He has done a excellent job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been good - 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 taken on some of the top sides, or the ones that are favoured every year, and performed admirably against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as highly-rated, we haven’t done as well against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - meeting the challenge of each game rather than just the major fixtures."
Squad News Harvey Elliott has will not be staying at Aston Villa, news that was stated by the manager Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss stated: "I am respecting him all we can because he’s a top professional, very dedicated. The issue we have with Harvey is this year he is a loan player and if he is playing matches, we must buy him. We decided two months ago we are not convinced to make the move permanent, committing the money we would need to."
League Context The tables have turned. This time last year Nottingham Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have altered, including the manager on two occasions and the current boss is charged with keeping the club in the top-flight this season. Since being named manager 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.