Villa versus Forest: Top-Flight Match Preview

The starting XIs have been announced. The Villa boss has made a quartet of alterations to his starting XI who were defeated by 4-1 to Arsenal last time around.

Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins.

Bench: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba.

Nottingham Forest have also made four adjustments to their starting squad after a 2-0 loss to Everton.

Nott’m Forest: Victor, Williams, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, I Jesus, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Aina.

Substitutes: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott.

Forest boss Sean Dyche has said on his opponent today:

"He has done a excellent job as a manager there. Their signings has been good - invested a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve shaped it into a strong side, so definitely a challenging game.

We’ve just shown lately, we’ve taken on some of the top sides, or the ones that are tipped every year, and held our own against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as highly-rated, we haven't performed as strongly against them. That’s probably the test of the group - meeting the expectation of each game rather than just the major fixtures."

Harvey Elliott has no future at Aston Villa, news that was stated by the manager Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss stated:

"I am respecting him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very respectful. The problem we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is playing matches, we are obligated to buy him. We made the decision two months ago we are not convinced to make the move permanent, committing the money we need."

The tables have turned. This time last year Nottingham Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have shifted, including the manager twice and Sean Dyche is charged with keeping the club in the top-flight this season. Since being named manager on 21 October, Dyche has secured 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.