Nottingham Forest 2-1 Aston Villa

A late comeback condemned Aston Villa to a first defeat in four outings, losing 2-1 to Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening.  

After a largely uneventful opening period at The City Ground, it was the Villans who drew first blood just after the hour, Jhon Durán heading home his 11th goal of the season from John McGinn’s cross.

But the hosts rallied in their attempts to take something from the game and, having seen an equaliser chalked off by VAR for offside, late strikes from Nikola Milenkovic and Anthony Elanga ensured Villa would leave Nottingham empty-handed.

Unai Emery was dealt an early blow ahead of kick-off when Tyrone Mings pulled out of the warm-up, meaning Pau Torres retained his place in the starting line-up and Durán was the only change from Tuesday’s Champions League win at RB Leipzig.

After a quiet, cagey opening, it was the hosts who grew into the opening period as it wore on, taking control of possession inside Villa’s half.

After Chris Wood’s header back across goal at the far post could not find a red shirt, Elliot Anderson saw an effort deflected behind on the half-hour, Murillo heading the resulting corner wide.

The hosts were limiting Villa to opportunities on the counter attack, but that didn’t mean Emery’s men lacked a threat. Ezri Konsa’s flicked header dropped agonisingly wide of the far post, just moments after cries for a penalty were ignored as Morgan Rogers hit the deck.

The Villans were growing in confidence, and looked to end the half the stronger of the two sides. Matty Cash’s deflected effort made Matz Sels scramble across his line to deny the Poland international a goal against his former side, as the opening period drew to a close.

Villa looked to begin the second half as they ended the first. John McGinn’s deep corner to the back post found an unmarked Durán who, having mishit his initial volley, sent an audacious overhead kick onto the roof of the net with the follow-up. 

However, down at the other end, the visitors had to remain alert, and had Emi Martínez to be thankful for, as he showed incredible reflexes to claw Nicolás Domínguez’s header off the line and away to safety.

And Martínez’s heroics at one end soon turned into jubilation for Villa at the other. The save gave Emery’s side a lift and, just after the hour, they took the lead.

A well-worked move saw Rogers drift infield with the ball. McGinn played a one-two with Lucas Digne before spotting Durán in the centre, who met the ball in and instinctively flicked a deft header beyond Sels to put his side ahead, scoring on three-consecutive appearances. 

But Forest responded to falling behind, and almost immediately went up the other end, providing Martínez with another test as Neco Williams drilled an effort towards the near post, which the Argentine had to remain strong to beat away.

The hosts came even closer to drawing level as the game ticked into the final 10 minutes. Chris Wood thought he had restored parity when sliding home at the far post, but following a lengthy VAR check, the goal was chalked off with Elanga adjudged to have strayed marginally offside.

But Villa couldn’t hold on for much longer, as the hosts’ pressure told with three minutes of normal time remaining. Nuno Espírito Santo’s men recycled a corner which Morgan Gibbs-White sent back into the area for Milenkovic to crash a header home.

And, much to the visitors’ dismay, Forest’s late comeback was complete in the third minute of added time. They won the ball back high up the field, and Anderson pulled back across goal where an onrushing Elanga thrashed an effort into the back of the net to break Villa hearts and end a run of three-consecutive victories.