🔗 Share this article Aston Villa versus Nottingham Forest: Premier League Preview Opening Thoughts Greetings and welcome to this English top-flight clash between Villa and Nottingham Forest. Villa will be the strong favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are excelling this season and are currently occupying third place, while Forest are in 17th position and just four points outside of the relegation zone. The two teams are coming into the game following a loss as Villa were overcome 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest fell 2-0 to Everton. It will be a difficult task for Sean Dyche’s side to secure all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home records in Europe at the moment and they also set a club record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But maybe it’s a new year and a new narrative? The answer will be revealed very soon. The confirmed XIs will be announced shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT. Starting Elevens The lineups have been confirmed. The Villa boss has made four changes to his starting lineup who lost 4-1 to Arsenal in their previous match. Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Bench: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. Nottingham Forest have likewise made four adjustments 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 Forest boss Sean Dyche has remarked on his opponent today: "He’s [Unai Emery] done a fantastic job as a manager there. Their transfer business has been impressive - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve forged it into a cohesive team, so certainly a tough game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve taken on 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 fancied, we haven’t done as well against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - meeting the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures." Transfer Update The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, an update that was revealed by the manager Unai Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss stated: "I am respecting him as much as possible because he’s a very good professional, very dedicated. The issue we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is playing matches, we must buy him. We decided two months ago we are not convinced to make the move permanent, committing the money we would need to." Season Snapshot The tables have turned. This time last year Nottingham Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have altered, 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 secured 10 Premier League points and the side are just outside the relegation zone with 19 games of the season remaining.
Opening Thoughts Greetings and welcome to this English top-flight clash between Villa and Nottingham Forest. Villa will be the strong favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are excelling this season and are currently occupying third place, while Forest are in 17th position and just four points outside of the relegation zone. The two teams are coming into the game following a loss as Villa were overcome 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest fell 2-0 to Everton. It will be a difficult task for Sean Dyche’s side to secure all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home records in Europe at the moment and they also set a club record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But maybe it’s a new year and a new narrative? The answer will be revealed very soon. The confirmed XIs will be announced shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT.
Starting Elevens The lineups have been confirmed. The Villa boss has made four changes to his starting lineup who lost 4-1 to Arsenal in their previous match. Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins. Bench: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba. Nottingham Forest have likewise made four adjustments 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 Forest boss Sean Dyche has remarked on his opponent today: "He’s [Unai Emery] done a fantastic job as a manager there. Their transfer business has been impressive - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve forged it into a cohesive team, so certainly a tough game. We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve taken on 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 fancied, we haven’t done as well against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - meeting the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures."
Transfer Update The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, an update that was revealed by the manager Unai Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss stated: "I am respecting him as much as possible because he’s a very good professional, very dedicated. The issue we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is playing matches, we must buy him. We decided two months ago we are not convinced to make the move permanent, committing the money we would need to."
Season Snapshot The tables have turned. This time last year Nottingham Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have altered, 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 secured 10 Premier League points and the side are just outside the relegation zone with 19 games of the season remaining.