At the City Ground, Nottingham Forest ended a six-game Premier League losing streak with a well-earned 2-0 victory over a lackluster Aston Villa team.
After just five minutes, Ola Aina’s incredible first-time effort got things started. Emiliano Martinez then parried Orel Mangala’s hard shot over the line early in the second half, giving the Tricky Trees some breathing room in the lower half and hurting the Lions’ hopes of finishing in the top four.
Odysseas Vlachodimos was hauled in for his first Premier League debut after Matt Turner made a blunder in last weekend’s 3-0 loss to Liverpool, and the Greek goalkeeper was on track for a dream debut after just five minutes.
After overcoming an illness, Anthony Elanga quickly moved past Matty Cash on the left side and set up Harry Toffolo, who then found Aina, who finished with a neat side-footed shot into the lower corner from the edge of the area.
The left-back’s first Tricky Trees goal was exactly what Steve Cooper’s team deserved. The home team had a couple attempts to break Taiwo Awoniyi in the center, but Unai Emery stuck with his high line and an overhit pass kept Villa in the game.
Naturally, Aston Villa was controlling the majority of the ball, but it took until the 36th minute for the visitors to put Vlachodimos to the test. After some excellent work from Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby, the goalkeeper stopped Nicolo Zaniolo at his near post.
Just before the halftime siren went off, both teams’ pleas for penalties were rejected. Awoniyi was sent down in the box, but Nicolas Dominguez was called for offside, and Toffolo was judged not to have handled Lucas Digne’s cross.
Emery replaced Leon Bailey with Zaniolo at halftime for the second straight week. The Lions manager saw his team nearly equalize in the 47th minute, but Vlachodimos again did a great job covering his near post to deny Watkins.
Shortly afterward, the Forest goalie saw Yashin Trophy winner Martinez, his opponent, commit a grave error. The Argentine appeared to palm Mangala’s drive harmlessly over for a corner.
A VAR check for offside against Awoniyi in the build-up did not change the outcome, as Martinez could only deflect the midfielder’s vicious drive into the air and past his own line, similar to one of the goals he conceded during Arsenal’s notorious 7-5 EFL Cup triumph over Reading in 2012.
Villa had numerous opportunities to cut the deficit in half, but Vlachodimos’s gloves mostly stayed spotless—aside from one curler from Diaby in the 67th minute that landed nicely in the 29-year-old’s arms.
A number of other second-half chances from Emery’s team went wide or over the crossbar, and Forest handled a string of corners from their impotent guests with ease, further undermining the Lions’ hopes of a comeback.
Forest’s first top-flight victory since September 2 has propelled them up four spots to 12th ahead of their trip to West Ham United on Sunday. Villa, on the other hand, is still in fifth place after missing out on the chance to move into the top four and will try to make amends against AZ Alkmaar at home on Thursday in their Europa Conference League group-stage match.