Villa against Forest: Premier League Match Preview
Preamble
Greetings and welcome to this English top-flight fixture between Villa and Forest. The home side are the expected winners to win in this early kick-off as they are soaring this season and are currently sitting third, while Nottingham Forest are in 17th position and just a handful of points outside of the drop zone.
Both clubs are coming into the game following a setback as Villa were overcome 4-1 by top-of-the-table Arsenal and Forest succumbed 2-0 to Everton.
This promises to be a tough task for Sean Dyche’s side to come away with all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home records 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? All will become clear very soon.
The starting lineups will be released shortly before the start at 12.30pm GMT.
Confirmed Lineups
The team news is in. Unai Emery has made four changes to his first eleven who lost 4-1 to Arsenal in their previous match.
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 likewise made four changes to their matchday squad after a 2-0 defeat 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
Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has commented on his opponent today:
"He’s [Unai Emery] done a excellent job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been impressive - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some top players and they’ve moulded it into a good unit, so certainly a difficult game.
We’ve just shown lately, we’ve faced some of the larger clubs, or the ones that are favoured every year, and held our own 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 - rising to the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures."
Transfer Update
The midfielder has no future at Aston Villa, news that was stated 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 dedicated. The problem 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, spending the money we would need to."
Form Guide
The tables have turned. This time last year Forest were third in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have shifted, including the manager on two occasions and Sean Dyche is charged with keeping the club in the top-flight this season. Since being appointed on 21 October, Dyche has accumulated 10 Premier League points and the side are just outside the bottom three with 19 games of the season to go.
