🔗 Share this article Villa against Nottingham Forest: Top-Flight Build-Up Introduction Welcome everyone to this Premier League clash between Villa and Forest. Aston Villa are the favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are flying this season and are currently occupying third place, while Nottingham Forest are in 17th position and just a handful of points outside of the drop zone. Both clubs are coming into the game following a loss as Villa were defeated 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest fell 2-0 to Everton. This shapes up as a difficult task for the visitors to secure all three points with Villa boasting one of the best home records in Europe at the moment and they also achieved a club record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But maybe it’s a new year and a new narrative? We will find out very soon. The team news will drop shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT. Starting Elevens The team news is in. The Villa boss has made a quartet of alterations to his starting lineup who lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time out. 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 also made four adjustments to their starting squad after a 2-0 defeat to Everton. Nottingham Forest: Victor, Williams, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, I Jesus, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Aina. Substitutes: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott. Pre-Match Quotes Forest boss Sean Dyche has remarked on his counterpart today: "He has done a great job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been good - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve shaped it into a strong side, so certainly a difficult game. We’ve just shown lately, we’ve played against some of the larger clubs, or the ones that are fancied every year, and held our own against them - and a couple of teams maybe not as highly-rated, we haven’t done as well against them. That’s probably the challenge of the group - rising to the expectation of each game rather than just the big games." Player Situation The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, an update that was stated by the manager Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss said: "I am respecting him as much as possible because he’s a top professional, very dedicated. The problem we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is featuring regularly, we are obligated to buy him. We decided two months ago we are not persuaded to sign him, spending the money we would need to." League Context The tables have turned. This time last year Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have altered, including the manager twice and Sean Dyche is charged with keeping the club in the top-flight this season. Since being appointed on 21 October, Dyche has won 10 Premier League points and the side are just outside the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.
Introduction Welcome everyone to this Premier League clash between Villa and Forest. Aston Villa are the favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are flying this season and are currently occupying third place, while Nottingham Forest are in 17th position and just a handful of points outside of the drop zone. Both clubs are coming into the game following a loss as Villa were defeated 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest fell 2-0 to Everton. This shapes up as a difficult task for the visitors to secure all three points with Villa boasting one of the best home records in Europe at the moment and they also achieved a club record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But maybe it’s a new year and a new narrative? We will find out very soon. The team news will drop shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT.
Starting Elevens The team news is in. The Villa boss has made a quartet of alterations to his starting lineup who lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time out. 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 also made four adjustments to their starting squad after a 2-0 defeat to Everton. Nottingham Forest: Victor, Williams, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, I Jesus, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Aina. Substitutes: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott.
Pre-Match Quotes Forest boss Sean Dyche has remarked on his counterpart today: "He has done a great job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been good - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve shaped it into a strong side, so certainly a difficult game. We’ve just shown lately, we’ve played against some of the larger clubs, or the ones that are fancied every year, and held our own against them - and a couple of teams maybe not as highly-rated, we haven’t done as well against them. That’s probably the challenge of the group - rising to the expectation of each game rather than just the big games."
Player Situation The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, an update that was stated by the manager Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss said: "I am respecting him as much as possible because he’s a top professional, very dedicated. The problem we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is featuring regularly, we are obligated to buy him. We decided two months ago we are not persuaded to sign him, spending the money we would need to."
League Context The tables have turned. This time last year Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have altered, including the manager twice and Sean Dyche is charged with keeping the club in the top-flight this season. Since being appointed on 21 October, Dyche has won 10 Premier League points and the side are just outside the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.