Aston Villa beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 to move second in the Premier League, recovering from their heavy midweek defeat to Arsenal
ASTON Villa eased the pain of their midweek mauling by Arsenal with a 3-1 home win against struggling Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The victory at Villa Park saw Unai Emery’s side leapfrog Manchester City into second place in the Premier League.
Ollie Watkins broke the deadlock on the cusp of half-time for a deserved Villa lead.
John McGinn then 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 had ended with a 4-1 defeat at Arsenal, raising doubts about their title credentials.
Their impressive home record remains intact, however, with 11 straight wins at Villa Park since August.
Emery told Sky Sports his team held a meeting to recover after the chastening Arsenal loss.
“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.”
Villa started brightly but struggled to make their dominance count in a tepid first half.
The in-form Watkins finally broke through just before the interval, slamming home for his fourth goal in three games.
McGinn doubled the lead early in the second half, side-footing home from a Matty Cash cross.
Forest pulled one back through a fine chipped finish from Gibbs-White in the 61st minute.
The home side were gifted a third goal when Forest goalkeeper John Victor inexplicably vacated his goal.
McGinn collected a long ball, sidestepped the stranded keeper, and stroked into the empty net from outside the area.
The win takes Villa to 42 points, three behind leaders Arsenal and one ahead of City.
Forest have now suffered four straight league defeats and remain just above the relegation zone.
Manager Sean Dyche, who replaced the sacked Ange Postecoglou in October, acknowledged the challenge.
“The mentality is there but you can’t keep giving yourself a mountain to climb,” he told the BBC. “I never expected it to be easy when I got here.”
