Aston Villa against Forest: Premier League Match Preview
Opening Thoughts
Greetings and welcome to this Premier League fixture between Villa and Forest. Villa will be the favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are excelling this season and are currently in third, while Nottingham Forest are in 17th position and just four points outside of the relegation zone.
The two teams are entering the game on the back of a defeat as Villa were beaten 4-1 by top-of-the-table Arsenal and Forest succumbed 2-0 to Everton.
This shapes up as a challenging task for Forest to secure all three points with Villa possessing 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 announced shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT.
Team News
The lineups have been confirmed. Unai Emery has made four changes to his starting XI who were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal last time around.
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 starting squad after a 2-0 loss 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.
Manager Comments
Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has said on his counterpart today:
"He has done a great job as a manager there. Their signings has been impressive - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve moulded it into a good unit, so definitely a tough game.
We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve taken on some of the top sides, or the ones that are tipped every year, and done very well against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as fancied, we haven't performed as strongly against them. That’s probably the test of the group - meeting the challenge of each game rather than just the big games."
Player Situation
The midfielder has will not be staying at Aston Villa, news that was revealed by the manager Unai Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss stated:
"I am respecting him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very respectful. The situation we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is playing matches, we are obligated to buy him. We decided two months ago we are not persuaded to sign him, committing the money we need."
Season Snapshot
The tables have turned. This time last year Nottingham Forest were third in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have altered, including the manager on two occasions and Sean Dyche is tasked 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 above the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.
