Aston Villa beat Nottingham Forest to ease pain of Arsenal rout

LONDON – Aston Villa beat struggling Nottingham Forest 3-1 at home on Jan 3 to ease the pain of their midweek mauling by Arsenal, leapfrogging Manchester City into second place in the English Premier League table.

Ollie Watkins’ strike on the cusp of half-time gave Unai Emery’s side a deserved lead and captain John McGinn grabbed a second early in the second period.

Morgan Gibbs-White pulled a goal back for the visitors, but McGinn took advantage of a brain freeze by Forest goalkeeper John Victor to restore Villa’s two-goal lead and secure the three points.

Villa’s 11-game winning streak in all competitions was brought to a shuddering halt with a 4-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium on Dec 30, raising doubts about their ability to maintain a title charge.

But their impressive record at Villa Park remains intact – they have now won 11 straight matches there since a 3-0 defeat by Crystal Palace in August.

“Even though it was a poor result the other night, it was a good reaction,” McGinn, 31, said.

“Forest are hard to beat and we knew we had to be at our best to get the win.

“The manager pushes us a lot and says I should be scoring a lot more goals. Thankfully I managed to get two goals today, so hopefully he’ll get off my back a bit.”

He added: “We’re building something special here, breaking more records and becoming more complete as a team. Hopefully, we can continue this run.

“Villa Park is a fortress at the moment. Exciting time to be a Villa player and a Villa supporter. We just keep riding that wave.”

Villa started brightly on a bitingly cold day in Birmingham and were denied an early opener when Victor saved a Watkins shot from point-blank range with his legs.

Sean Dyche’s Forest, who came into the match on a three-match losing run, struggled to gain a foothold but the home side failed to take advantage of their dominance in a tepid first half.

The in-form Watkins, 30, then gave Villa a deserved lead in the closing moments of a half in which they enjoyed nearly 80 per cent possession.

The England striker received the ball outside the area from Morgan Rogers and slammed home for his fourth goal in three games.

McGinn doubled Villa’s lead in the 49th minute, side-footing into the net after a Matty Cash cross.

Villa appeared to be cruising towards all three points, but Forest were back in the game in the 61st minute courtesy of a fine finish from Gibbs-White.

But Villa were gifted a third goal in the 73rd minute when Victor inexplicably vacated his goalmouth area to try to reach a long ball from Youri Tielemans, even though there were defenders nearby.

Scotland midfielder McGinn collected the ball and remained calm, sidestepping Victor and curling the ball into the empty net from well outside the area.

The win leaves Villa on 42 points, provisionally just three behind leaders Arsenal and one ahead of City. The Gunners are away at Bournemouth later on Jan 3 – the match kicked off after press time – while Pep Guardiola’s men host managerless Chelsea on Jan 4.

Forest remain one place above the relegation zone.

“I feel like we stuck to the game plan in the first half,” said Gibbs-White, 25.

“There were lots of positives to take. I know we need points, but we showed a work ethic and desire.

“We always know Villa start with a high press. So the key was to absorb that pressure and silence the fans a bit. We were unfortunate to concede right before half-time.” AFP