Villa continue title charge with victory over hapless Forest, move to second spot after leaders Arsenal

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

Ollie Watkins’ strike on the cusp of half-time gave Unai Emery’s side a deserved lead and John McGinn scored twice in the second half, either side of a Morgan Gibbs-White goal for the visitors.

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 Tuesday, 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 to Crystal Palace in August.

Villa boss Emery told Sky Sports that his players and coaching staff had held a meeting after their chastening loss to Arsenal.

“I am so happy,” he said. “We had to recover our energy and our confidence. Here, at Villa Park, the energy we create was really important.

“Forest are competitive. After the Arsenal match we met. The players and staff, how we are doing this season, how we are feeling, how we needed to keep the same consistency as before. How we needed to be together and strong.”

Villa started brightly on a bitingly cold day in Birmingham but struggled to make their dominance count in a tepid first half.

But the in-form Watkins broke the deadlock in the closing moments of a half in which they enjoyed nearly 80 percent possession.

The England man 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 home from a Matty Cash cross.

Villa appeared to be cruising but Forest were back in the game in the 61st minute courtesy of a fine finish from Gibbs-White, who chipped past the diving Emi Martinez.

The home side were gifted a third goal in the 73rd minute when Forest goalkeeper John Victor inexplicably vacated his goalmouth to try to reach a long ball from Youri Tielemans even though there were defenders nearby.

Scotland midfielder McGinn collected the ball and remained cool, sidestepping Victor and stroking the ball into the empty net with his left foot from well outside the area.

The win takes Villa to 42 points, three behind leaders Arsenal, and one ahead of City.

The Gunners are away at Bournemouth later on Saturday while Pep Guardiola’s men host managerless Chelsea on Sunday.

Forest, who have now suffered four straight league defeats, remain one place above the relegation zone, four points clear of West Ham, who face Wolves later on Saturday.

Dyche, brought in to replace the sacked Ange Postecoglou in October, said he knew his task would be difficult when he arrived at the club.

“The mentality is there but you can’t keep giving yourself a mountain to climb,” he told the BBC.

“Players were switching off to the basics. We have worked on it and shown them but this is the job. I never expected it to be easy when I got here.”

Meanwhile, the Reds spent more than any Premier League side ever has in one window just a few months ago, splurging nearly £450 million ($606 million) on six new additions.

However, there has been little return on that investment and injuries look set to force the English champions back into the market.

Alexander Isak’s British record £125 million move from Newcastle headlined Liverpool’s summer spending spree, but the Swede is set for at least two months on the sidelines with a broken leg.

Despite splashing out around £300 million on forwards in the summer window, Arne Slot’s attacking options are currently threadbare with Mohamed Salah also absent at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Salah’s future remains uncertain following his public outburst at being dropped by Slot and should the Egyptian depart, Liverpool will be in the market for a replacement.

Agencies