Two early goals proved enough for a valuable three points for Unai Emery’s side. Check out the best facts and Opta data from the game in our Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest stats page.
Aston Villa made the perfect preparation for their upcoming Champions League meeting with Paris Saint-Germain by battling to a hard-fought victory over Nottingham Forest.
The win was ultimately earned through the two goals they scored inside the first quarter of an hour as Unai Emery’s side made a blistering start to the game. The three points take them level with Manchester City in the Premier League table and to within one point of fourth-placed Chelsea. They head to the French capital on Wednesday night having won seven games in a row in all competitions for the first time as a top-flight side since March 1981.
It was a more forgettable night for Forest, who knew after Arsenal’s draw with Everton earlier in the day that a win would have taken them two points off second place, but two Villa goals in the space of three first-half minutes put them up against it early on.
Youri Tielemans played a perfect lofted ball over the top of the Forest defence to put Morgan Rogers through on goal to open the scoring, before Ian Maatsen drilled a ball across the face of goal following some fine work down the left for Donyell Malen to tap in and double Villa’s lead. It was the earliest that Villa had scored two goals in a Premier League match since November 2022 vs Manchester United (11 minutes).
Forest, playing without a recognised centre-forward due to the absence through injury of both Chris Wood and Taiwo Awoniyi, did not give up, creating decent openings for Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi shortly after going two down.
However, history suggested the writing might have been on the wall for them as soon as the second goal went in. They had lost all 78 of their previous Premier League games in which they trailed by two goals.
Their task might have been made more difficult when they lost Elanga at the break, but if the decision to replace him with Jota Silva was a tactical one from Forest manager Nuno Espírito Santo, then it was something of a mini-masterstroke. Just 12 minutes into the second half, Jota finished smartly to pull a goal back for the visitors.
From then on, Forest always looked the more likely to score the game’s next goal, with Neco Williams twice going close and Murillo rattling the crossbar with a rasping strike from distance late on.
In the end, though, they went on to make it 79 losses from 79 two-goal deficits in Premier League games. It was their first defeat in any competition in seven games.
Villa held out to win a third consecutive Premier League game for the first time since September. They won’t have much time to dwell on this triumph, though, with PSG, crowned Ligue 1 champions this afternoon, up in just a few days’ time.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest stats from their Premier League meeting at Villa Park.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own post-match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest: Post-Match Facts
Aston Villa have won seven consecutive games in all competitions for the first time since a 10-game winning run between March and April 2019 (while playing in the Championship), doing so as a top-flight side for the first time since March 1981 (7).
Nottingham Forest have lost four of their last five Premier League away games (W1) having lost just two of their first 11 games on the road this season (W7 D2).
Morgan Rogers has had a hand in 10 goals in his last 14 appearances for Aston Villa in all competitions (6 goals, 4 assists), meanwhile only Ollie Watkins (26) has had a hand in more goals for the club overall this season than Rogers (22 – 13 goals, 9 assists).
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