🔗 Share this article Villa versus Nottingham Forest: Top-Flight Build-Up Preamble Hello and welcome to this English top-flight encounter between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Villa will be the strong favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are soaring this season and are currently in third, while Forest are seventeenth and just a handful of points outside of the relegation zone. The two teams are coming into the game following a defeat as Villa were overcome 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest succumbed 2-0 to Everton. This promises to be a tough task for Forest to come away with all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home records 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 confirmed XIs will drop shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT. Confirmed Lineups The lineups have been confirmed. 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 adjustments to their matchday squad after a 2-0 defeat 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. Manager Comments Forest boss Sean Dyche has remarked on his opponent today: "He’s [Unai Emery] done a fantastic job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been good - invested a lot of money, to be fair, on some top players and they’ve shaped it into a strong side, so definitely a challenging game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve faced some of the larger clubs, or the ones that are tipped every year, and done very well against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as highly-rated, we haven't performed as strongly against them. That’s likely the test of the group - rising to the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures." Transfer Update Harvey Elliott has no future at Aston Villa, an update that was confirmed by the manager Unai 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 respectful. The issue we have with Harvey is this year he is a loan player and if he is playing matches, we are obligated to buy him. We made the decision two months ago we are not convinced to sign him, spending the money we need." League Context 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 shifted, including the manager twice and the current boss 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 bottom three with 19 games of the season to go.
Preamble Hello and welcome to this English top-flight encounter between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Villa will be the strong favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are soaring this season and are currently in third, while Forest are seventeenth and just a handful of points outside of the relegation zone. The two teams are coming into the game following a defeat as Villa were overcome 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest succumbed 2-0 to Everton. This promises to be a tough task for Forest to come away with all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home records 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 confirmed XIs will drop shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT.
Confirmed Lineups The lineups have been confirmed. 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 adjustments to their matchday squad after a 2-0 defeat 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.
Manager Comments Forest boss Sean Dyche has remarked on his opponent today: "He’s [Unai Emery] done a fantastic job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been good - invested a lot of money, to be fair, on some top players and they’ve shaped it into a strong side, so definitely a challenging game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve faced some of the larger clubs, or the ones that are tipped every year, and done very well against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as highly-rated, we haven't performed as strongly against them. That’s likely the test of the group - rising to the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures."
Transfer Update Harvey Elliott has no future at Aston Villa, an update that was confirmed by the manager Unai 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 respectful. The issue we have with Harvey is this year he is a loan player and if he is playing matches, we are obligated to buy him. We made the decision two months ago we are not convinced to sign him, spending the money we need."
League Context 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 shifted, including the manager twice and the current boss 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 bottom three with 19 games of the season to go.