🔗 Share this article Villa v Nottingham Forest: Premier League Build-Up Opening Thoughts Hello and welcome to this English top-flight fixture between Aston Villa and Forest. Aston Villa are the strong favourites to win in this early kick-off as they are flying this season and are currently sitting third, while Forest are in 17th position and just a handful of points outside of the drop zone. Both clubs are coming into the game on 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 Sean Dyche’s side to obtain all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home forms in Europe at the moment and they also set a team record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But perhaps it’s new year, new story? All will become clear very soon. The team news will drop shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT. Confirmed Lineups The team news is in. The Villa boss has made a quartet of alterations to his starting XI who lost 4-1 to Arsenal in their previous match. 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 likewise made four changes to their starting squad after a 2-0 loss 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 said on his opponent today: "He’s [Unai Emery] done a fantastic job as a manager there. Their transfer business has been good - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve forged it into a cohesive team, so certainly a challenging game. We’ve just shown lately, we’ve faced 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 struggled more against them. That’s likely the test of the group - meeting the challenge of each game rather than just the big games." Transfer Update The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, news that was revealed by the manager Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss stated: "We respect him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very dedicated. The situation we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is playing matches, we are obligated to buy him. We decided two months ago we are not convinced to make the move permanent, committing the money we would need to." Form Guide What a difference a year makes. This time last year Forest were third in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have changed, 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 won 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the bottom three with 19 games of the season to go.
Opening Thoughts Hello and welcome to this English top-flight fixture between Aston Villa and Forest. Aston Villa are the strong favourites to win in this early kick-off as they are flying this season and are currently sitting third, while Forest are in 17th position and just a handful of points outside of the drop zone. Both clubs are coming into the game on 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 Sean Dyche’s side to obtain all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home forms in Europe at the moment and they also set a team record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But perhaps it’s new year, new story? All will become clear very soon. The team news will drop shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT.
Confirmed Lineups The team news is in. The Villa boss has made a quartet of alterations to his starting XI who lost 4-1 to Arsenal in their previous match. 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 likewise made four changes to their starting squad after a 2-0 loss 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 said on his opponent today: "He’s [Unai Emery] done a fantastic job as a manager there. Their transfer business has been good - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve forged it into a cohesive team, so certainly a challenging game. We’ve just shown lately, we’ve faced 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 struggled more against them. That’s likely the test of the group - meeting the challenge of each game rather than just the big games."
Transfer Update The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, news that was revealed by the manager Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss stated: "We respect him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very dedicated. The situation we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is playing matches, we are obligated to buy him. We decided two months ago we are not convinced to make the move permanent, committing the money we would need to."
Form Guide What a difference a year makes. This time last year Forest were third in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have changed, 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 won 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the bottom three with 19 games of the season to go.