Emery pleased with Villa ‘process’ but wary of Forest threat

Unai Emery believes his Aston Villa side are in a strong position in their process as a team after putting one foot into the Champions League knockout stages with their win over RB Leipzig.

Villa have won each of their last three games in all competitions, after winning just three of their previous 13 matches (D5 L5), moving them up to third in the new 36-team standings.

The Villans know a victory against either Monaco or Celtic in their final two games in the Champions League will see them finish in the automatic positions in the table.

And while the win pleased Emery, his immediate focus was on Villa’s upcoming trip to the City Ground this Saturday to take on Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.

“Sometimes a spell of bad results is coming. Sometimes good results now, with the three victories, two in the league and one today, can help us to feel confident and strong in our process,” Emery said.

“Today we are happy, but now I’m thinking about Saturday against Nottingham Forest and trying to recover quickly the players that played today and to get the others ready.”

Tuesday’s match-winner Ross Barkley echoed his manager’s thoughts, saying: “Important, we needed that win. It pushes us higher up the table, and we’ve done really well in the Champions League.

“One game at a time, we’ve got to try and win the games. That’s our focus, that’s our aim, to get through, and now our eyes are on the game at the weekend.”

GD MORNING pic.twitter.com/HgvrmyJQJu

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 11, 2024

But Forest are coming down from a high of their own after earning back-to-back victories against Manchester United for the first time since 1992 with their 3-2 win at Old Trafford.

After picking up just one triumph in four league games heading into Saturday’s game, Forest got themselves back on track and moved up to fifth in the Premier League table.

Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo understood the magnitude of the victory and urged supporters to enjoy it, insisting their latest win is only the start of where he wants to take the club.

“It means a lot for us as a club. Forest is a huge club that hasn’t had special moments like this for a long time. We should celebrate and be proud of this,” Nuno said.

“Me, I think about Villa. Let the fans celebrate, now we will start to prepare for the next one.

“But I’m very proud of being part of this group of players and the squad. We are trying to do something together and build something nice.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Nottingham Forest – Chris Wood

Wood is one of only four players to score 10+ Premier League goals this season, with only Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland (both 13) and Cole Palmer (11) scoring more than the New Zealander.

He is also the first Forest player to score 10 Premier League goals in a campaign before Christmas, while he’s the first Forest player to do so in a league term since Lewis Grabban in the Championship back in 2021-22.

Aston Villa – Jhon Duran

Duran, who turns 21 the day before Villa’s trip to the City Ground, has scored 10 Premier League goals for the Villans, netting the winner in four of their seven wins this season.

He’s one of three players to score 10 goals for Villa before turning 21, along with Gabriel Agbonlahor (13) and Luke Moore (11).

6 – Jhon Duran has scored six goals after coming on as a substitute in all competitions for Aston Villa this season – the most by any player for clubs in Europe’s big-five leagues in 2024-25. Super. pic.twitter.com/hPseCcju8A

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 10, 2024

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

This will be Forest’s 5,000th match in the top four tiers of English football, the 12th side to reach that milestone in English Football League history.

However, Saturday’s hosts have won just one of their last 11 Premier League games against Villa (D5 L5), though it was a 2-0 victory in this exact fixture last season.

But they have turned the City Ground into a fortress. Forest have won three of their last four home games in the Premier League (L1), as many as their previous 17 beforehand (W3 D4 L10).

Villa, meanwhile, are winless in their last five top-flight away games against Forest, though four of these have ended level. Their last such victory was in January 1995 under Brian Little (2-1).

The Villans have lost each of their last three away league games, their longest such run since losing four in a row from May to August 2022. All three defeats in their current spell have been by 2+ goals – they last lost more in succession by such a margin on the road in the league in September 1968 as a second-tier side (five).

Villa also won seven of their first 12 Premier League games under Emery against teams starting the day in the top five of the table (D1 L4) but have since lost five of their last seven (W1 D1), including all three this season, by an aggregate score of 7-0.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Nottingham Forest – 36.2%

Draw – 26.2%

Aston Villa – 37.6%