🔗 Share this article Villa against Forest: Premier League Match Preview Preamble Welcome everyone to this English top-flight clash between Villa and Forest. Villa will be the expected winners to win in this lunchtime start as they are soaring this season and are currently in third, while Nottingham Forest are seventeenth and just four points outside of the drop zone. Each side are entering the game off of the back of a loss as Villa were defeated 4-1 by top-of-the-table Arsenal and Forest succumbed 2-0 to Everton. This promises to be a difficult task for Forest to come away with all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home forms in Europe at the moment and they also recorded 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 drop 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 were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal in their previous match. Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Substitutes: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. Nottingham 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. Pre-Match Quotes Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has commented on his opponent today: "He has done a fantastic job as a manager there. Their signings has been strong - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some top players and they’ve forged it into a strong side, so certainly a challenging game. We’ve just shown lately, we’ve faced some of the larger clubs, or the ones that are tipped 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 probably the test of the group - meeting the challenge of each game rather than just the big games." Squad News Harvey Elliott 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 said: "I am respecting him all we can because he’s a very good professional, very respectful. The situation 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 convinced to make the move permanent, spending the money we need." League Context How times change. This time last year Nottingham Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have shifted, including the manager on two occasions and the current boss is tasked 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 outside the bottom three with 19 games of the season remaining.
Preamble Welcome everyone to this English top-flight clash between Villa and Forest. Villa will be the expected winners to win in this lunchtime start as they are soaring this season and are currently in third, while Nottingham Forest are seventeenth and just four points outside of the drop zone. Each side are entering the game off of the back of a loss as Villa were defeated 4-1 by top-of-the-table Arsenal and Forest succumbed 2-0 to Everton. This promises to be a difficult task for Forest to come away with all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home forms in Europe at the moment and they also recorded 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 drop 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 were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal in their previous match. Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Substitutes: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. Nottingham 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.
Pre-Match Quotes Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has commented on his opponent today: "He has done a fantastic job as a manager there. Their signings has been strong - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some top players and they’ve forged it into a strong side, so certainly a challenging game. We’ve just shown lately, we’ve faced some of the larger clubs, or the ones that are tipped 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 probably the test of the group - meeting the challenge of each game rather than just the big games."
Squad News Harvey Elliott 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 said: "I am respecting him all we can because he’s a very good professional, very respectful. The situation 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 convinced to make the move permanent, spending the money we need."
League Context How times change. This time last year Nottingham Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have shifted, including the manager on two occasions and the current boss is tasked 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 outside the bottom three with 19 games of the season remaining.