🔗 Share this article Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest: Top-Flight Match Preview Introduction Hello and welcome to this English top-flight clash between Villa and Nottingham Forest. The home side are the expected winners to win in this lunchtime start as they are flying this season and are currently sitting third, while Forest are seventeenth and just a handful of points outside of the drop zone. Both clubs are coming into the game off of the back of a defeat as Villa were beaten 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest fell 2-0 to Everton. This shapes up as a difficult task for Sean Dyche’s side to obtain 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? The answer will be revealed very soon. The starting lineups will be released shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT. Confirmed Lineups The starting XIs have been announced. The Villa boss has made four changes to his starting XI who were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal last time out. 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 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. Bench: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott. Pre-Match Quotes Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has said on his opponent today: "He has done a fantastic job as a manager there. Their transfer business has been strong - invested a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve shaped it into a cohesive team, so definitely a difficult game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve faced some of the bigger teams, or the ones that are tipped every year, and performed admirably against them - and a couple of teams maybe not as fancied, we haven't performed as strongly against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - rising to the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures." Squad News The midfielder 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 commented: "I am respecting him as much as possible because he’s a very good professional, very respectful. The problem we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is featuring regularly, we must buy him. We made the decision two months ago we are not convinced to make the move permanent, committing the money we need." Form Guide How times change. This time last year Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have shifted, including the manager twice and Sean Dyche is charged with keeping the club in the Premier League 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 remaining.
Introduction Hello and welcome to this English top-flight clash between Villa and Nottingham Forest. The home side are the expected winners to win in this lunchtime start as they are flying this season and are currently sitting third, while Forest are seventeenth and just a handful of points outside of the drop zone. Both clubs are coming into the game off of the back of a defeat as Villa were beaten 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest fell 2-0 to Everton. This shapes up as a difficult task for Sean Dyche’s side to obtain 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? The answer will be revealed very soon. The starting lineups will be released shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT.
Confirmed Lineups The starting XIs have been announced. The Villa boss has made four changes to his starting XI who were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal last time out. 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 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. Bench: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott.
Pre-Match Quotes Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has said on his opponent today: "He has done a fantastic job as a manager there. Their transfer business has been strong - invested a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve shaped it into a cohesive team, so definitely a difficult game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve faced some of the bigger teams, or the ones that are tipped every year, and performed admirably against them - and a couple of teams maybe not as fancied, we haven't performed as strongly against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - rising to the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures."
Squad News The midfielder 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 commented: "I am respecting him as much as possible because he’s a very good professional, very respectful. The problem we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is featuring regularly, we must buy him. We made the decision two months ago we are not convinced to make the move permanent, committing the money we need."
Form Guide How times change. This time last year Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have shifted, including the manager twice and Sean Dyche is charged with keeping the club in the Premier League 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 remaining.