🔗 Share this article Aston Villa versus Forest: Premier League Build-Up Preamble Hello and welcome to this Premier League encounter between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Aston Villa are the strong favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are soaring this season and are currently in third, while Nottingham Forest are seventeenth and just a handful of points outside of the drop 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 succumbed 2-0 to Everton. It will be a challenging task for Forest to come away with all three points with Villa having 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 perhaps it’s a new year and a new narrative? The answer will be revealed very soon. The confirmed XIs will be released shortly before kick-off 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 were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal last time around. 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 changes to their starting squad after a 2-0 defeat 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. Pre-Match Quotes Forest boss Sean Dyche has said on his opponent today: "Emery has delivered a fantastic job as a manager there. Their transfer business has been good - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve moulded it into a good unit, so certainly a tough game. We’ve just shown lately, we’ve played against 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 highly-rated, we struggled more against them. That’s probably the test of the group - meeting the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures." Squad News The midfielder has no future at Aston Villa, news that was revealed by the manager Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss said: "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 a loan player and if he is featuring regularly, we must buy him. We decided two months ago we are not persuaded to sign him, spending the money we would need to." Season Snapshot What a difference a year makes. This time last year Forest were in third place in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have changed, including the manager twice and the current boss is charged with keeping the club in the Premier League this season. Since being appointed 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 to go.
Preamble Hello and welcome to this Premier League encounter between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Aston Villa are the strong favourites to win in this lunchtime start as they are soaring this season and are currently in third, while Nottingham Forest are seventeenth and just a handful of points outside of the drop 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 succumbed 2-0 to Everton. It will be a challenging task for Forest to come away with all three points with Villa having 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 perhaps it’s a new year and a new narrative? The answer will be revealed very soon. The confirmed XIs will be released shortly before kick-off 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 were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal last time around. 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 changes to their starting squad after a 2-0 defeat 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.
Pre-Match Quotes Forest boss Sean Dyche has said on his opponent today: "Emery has delivered a fantastic job as a manager there. Their transfer business has been good - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve moulded it into a good unit, so certainly a tough game. We’ve just shown lately, we’ve played against 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 highly-rated, we struggled more against them. That’s probably the test of the group - meeting the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures."
Squad News The midfielder has no future at Aston Villa, news that was revealed by the manager Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss said: "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 a loan player and if he is featuring regularly, we must buy him. We decided two months ago we are not persuaded to sign him, spending the money we would need to."
Season Snapshot What a difference a year makes. This time last year Forest were in third place in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have changed, including the manager twice and the current boss is charged with keeping the club in the Premier League this season. Since being appointed 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 to go.