🔗 Share this article Villa against Forest: Top-Flight Preview Introduction Hello and welcome to this Premier League encounter between Aston Villa and Nottingham 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 Nottingham Forest are in 17th position and just a handful of points outside of the drop zone. The two teams are entering the game on the back of a defeat as Villa were overcome 4-1 by top-of-the-table Arsenal and Forest lost 2-0 to Everton. It will be a tough task for Forest to obtain all three points with Villa boasting 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 maybe it’s new year, new story? The answer will be revealed very soon. The confirmed XIs will be announced shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT. Starting Elevens The starting XIs have been announced. Unai Emery has made four changes to his starting lineup who lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time around. Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Substitutes: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. 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 said on his counterpart today: "He has done a great job as a manager there. Their signings has been good - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve shaped it into a good unit, so certainly a tough game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve faced some of the top sides, or the ones that are fancied every year, and performed admirably against them - and a couple of teams maybe not as fancied, 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 big games." Squad News The midfielder has no future at Aston Villa, news that was stated by the manager Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss stated: "I am respecting him all we can because he’s a top professional, very dedicated. The situation we have with Harvey is this year he is a loan player and if he is featuring regularly, we must buy him. We decided two months ago we are not convinced to sign him, spending the money we need." League Context How times change. This time last year Forest were third in the table, where 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 secured 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the bottom three with 19 games of the season remaining.
Introduction Hello and welcome to this Premier League encounter between Aston Villa and Nottingham 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 Nottingham Forest are in 17th position and just a handful of points outside of the drop zone. The two teams are entering the game on the back of a defeat as Villa were overcome 4-1 by top-of-the-table Arsenal and Forest lost 2-0 to Everton. It will be a tough task for Forest to obtain all three points with Villa boasting 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 maybe it’s new year, new story? The answer will be revealed very soon. The confirmed XIs will be announced shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT.
Starting Elevens The starting XIs have been announced. Unai Emery has made four changes to his starting lineup who lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time around. Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Substitutes: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. 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 said on his counterpart today: "He has done a great job as a manager there. Their signings has been good - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve shaped it into a good unit, so certainly a tough game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve faced some of the top sides, or the ones that are fancied every year, and performed admirably against them - and a couple of teams maybe not as fancied, 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 big games."
Squad News The midfielder has no future at Aston Villa, news that was stated by the manager Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss stated: "I am respecting him all we can because he’s a top professional, very dedicated. The situation we have with Harvey is this year he is a loan player and if he is featuring regularly, we must buy him. We decided two months ago we are not convinced to sign him, spending the money we need."
League Context How times change. This time last year Forest were third in the table, where 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 secured 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the bottom three with 19 games of the season remaining.