Aston Villa 2-1 Nottingham Forest
by Gene Sylvester
at Villa Park

THE late kick-off on Saturday evening saw Aston Villa play host to their Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest, with both team’s eyes on the prize of securing Champions League football for next season.

Despite Forest being in the box seat for a top-four finish, it was the Villans that strengthened their own top-four hopes with a hard-earned victory here at Villa Park with two first-half goals securing the points as they held off a spirited second-half performance from the away side to run out 2-1 winners.

The opening 10 minutes saw chances fall to Ian Maatsen, Marco Asensio and Youri Tielemans as Unai Emery’s side looked to pick up where they left off against Brighton in midweek, and it didn’t take too long before the pressure paid dividends, with Morgan Rogers firing the home side into a 12th-minute lead. 

It came following a simple ball over the top of the Forest defence from Villa midfielder Tielemans which Rogers was able to take in his stride before firing hard and low through the legs of the advancing Matz Sels in the Forest goal.

It was no less than the home side deserved and two minutes later, Villa’s lead was doubled courtesy of Donyell Malen’s second goal in a week following his first Premier League goal for the club against Brighton on Wednesday.

Left-back Ian Maatsen was the chief architect of the goal with a mesmerising run down the left that turned makeshift right-back Nicolas Dominguez inside out, going one way and then the other, before delivering a delicious low cross into the six-yard box that Malens had the simple task of smashing into the net from four yards out.

It looked like it was going to be a long afternoon for Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, despite them showing glimpses of what they were capable of on the break with Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi going close with largely solo efforts that were born out of Villa giving the ball away sloppily.

Midweek hero Elanga didn’t make it out for the second half due to injury, but it was his replacement Jota Silva who pulled Forest back into the game with a 56th-minute strike.

Neco Williams squeezed a low cross in from the left, through the legs of his marker Axel Disasi, which seemed destined for the boot of Elliot Anderson to strike at goal from 12 yards, but Jota Silva nicked the ball off his midfield colleague before firing a low left-foot shot on the angle across Emi Martinez and into the far corner of the net.

It was a deserved goal for the away side who were unrecognisable from the team that took to the field in the first half, with much of that being owed to Villa’s wastefulness in possession.

“We made adjustments at half-time to make the players feel comfortable which in the first half we were not. We were not able to control, to dominate as we did in the second half,” stated Forest boss Espirito Santo following the final whistle.

And dominate they did as a plethora of second-half chances fell to the likes of Anderson, Hudson-Odoi and Williams, with all going close without actually testing Martinez in the Villa goal.

Emery spoke of his delight at the result after the game.

“Forest are having a fantastic season and there is still a difference between us in the table, so I am happy with the result.”