🔗 Share this article Villa versus Nottingham Forest: Premier League Preview Opening Thoughts Welcome everyone to this Premier League encounter between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. The home side are the favourites to win in this early kick-off as they are excelling this season and are currently in third, while Nottingham Forest are 17th and just four points outside of the relegation zone. Each side are entering the game on the back of a loss as Villa were defeated 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest lost 2-0 to Everton. This promises to be a tough 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 achieved a team record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But maybe it’s new year, new story? We will find out very soon. The confirmed XIs will be released shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT. Starting Elevens The team news is in. The Villa boss has made a quartet of alterations to his first eleven who were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal last time around. 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 adjustments to their matchday 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. Dugout Insights Forest boss Sean Dyche has remarked on his opponent today: "Emery has delivered a great job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been strong - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve forged it into a cohesive team, so certainly a challenging game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve played against some of the top sides, or the ones that are favoured every year, and done very well against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as highly-rated, we struggled more against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - rising to the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures." Transfer Update The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, news that was stated by the manager Unai Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss stated: "I am respecting him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very respectful. The issue 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 persuaded to make the move permanent, spending the money we need." Season Snapshot What a difference a year makes. This time last year Forest were in third place in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have changed, including the manager twice and the current boss is tasked 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 outside the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.
Opening Thoughts Welcome everyone to this Premier League encounter between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. The home side are the favourites to win in this early kick-off as they are excelling this season and are currently in third, while Nottingham Forest are 17th and just four points outside of the relegation zone. Each side are entering the game on the back of a loss as Villa were defeated 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest lost 2-0 to Everton. This promises to be a tough 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 achieved a team record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But maybe it’s new year, new story? We will find out very soon. The confirmed XIs will be released shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT.
Starting Elevens The team news is in. The Villa boss has made a quartet of alterations to his first eleven who were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal last time around. 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 adjustments to their matchday 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.
Dugout Insights Forest boss Sean Dyche has remarked on his opponent today: "Emery has delivered a great job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been strong - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve forged it into a cohesive team, so certainly a challenging game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve played against some of the top sides, or the ones that are favoured every year, and done very well against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as highly-rated, we struggled more against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - rising to the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures."
Transfer Update The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, news that was stated by the manager Unai Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss stated: "I am respecting him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very respectful. The issue 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 persuaded to make the move permanent, spending the money we need."
Season Snapshot What a difference a year makes. This time last year Forest were in third place in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have changed, including the manager twice and the current boss is tasked 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 outside the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.