Aston Villa will look to keep themselves in the top four when they meet with Nottingham Forest this Saturday afternoon with the away side slipping deeper and deeper into the bottom end of the Premier League table.
Forest are now only above the bottom three by four points and four ahead of Everton in 17th, while Luton Town in 18th have a game in hand and can bring them even closer to the relegation zone in due course. On the other hand, after failing to win a Premier League game in 2024, Forest finally got off the mark this calendar year with a 2-0 win at the County Ground over West Ham United where Taiwo Awoniyi scored another goal before Callum Hudson-Odoi's fourth league goal of the season.
Forest did lose at home to Newcastle United before this and also needed two games and a penalty shootout to get past Bristol City in the FA Cup fourth round replay a few days before that home loss. Further results in 2024 have seen Forest draw away to Bournemouth, lose at home to Arsenal and also suffer a loss away to Brentford.
Villa managed to get a win over Fulham last weekend to keep them two clear of Tottenham Hotspur after their loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Ollie Watkins was the hero that day with two goals once again, and it ended a run of two losses in a row for Villa after losing at home to Chelsea and Manchester United. In fact, after also losing to Newcastle United 3-1 before those two games, Villa are looking for their first win at Villa Park in 2024 here.
Other results this year have seen Villa draw away to Everton but also smash Sheffield United 5-0 with four goals in the first half. It keeps them just about in the top four and adrift of Manchester City in third by four points, while the latter has a game in hand to play too.