Aston Villa v Forest: Premier League Preview
Introduction
Welcome everyone to this English top-flight fixture between Aston Villa and Forest. The home side are the expected winners to win in this early kick-off as they are excelling this season and are currently sitting third, while Forest are seventeenth and just four points outside of the relegation zone.
Both clubs are entering the game off of the back of a defeat as Villa were beaten 4-1 by top-of-the-table Arsenal and Forest fell 2-0 to Everton.
This shapes up as a tough task for Sean Dyche’s side 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 perhaps it’s a new year and a new narrative? The answer will be revealed very soon.
The confirmed XIs will drop shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT.
Team News
The team news is in. The Villa boss has made four changes to his starting lineup who lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time out.
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 loss to Everton.
Nott’m Forest: Victor, Williams, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, I Jesus, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Aina.
Bench: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott.
Dugout Insights
Forest boss Sean Dyche has said on his counterpart today:
"He’s [Unai Emery] done a excellent job as a manager there. Their signings has been strong - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve shaped it into a cohesive team, so certainly a difficult game.
We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve faced some of the larger clubs, or the ones that are fancied every year, and performed admirably against them - and a couple of teams maybe not as highly-rated, we haven’t done as well against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - meeting the challenge of each game rather than just the big games."
Squad News
The midfielder has no future at Aston Villa, news that was confirmed by the manager Unai Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss said:
"We respect him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very respectful. The situation 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 decided 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 Forest were third 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 top-flight this season. Since being named manager on 21 October, Dyche has secured 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.
