Aston Villa travel to face Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday, and Unai Emery has named his starting line-up for the encounter.
Villa will be looking to make it four consecutive wins across all competitions as we’ve rediscovered some good form after an extended slump, but it certainly won’t be easy against Forest, who have made an excellent start to the campaign.
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After seeing off RB Leipzig in midweek in the Champions League, there was potential for Emery to rotate and rest some key players who have perhaps taken on a heavy workload in recent weeks, while there was an anxious wait to determine if Ollie Watkins would be available.
The Villa striker was replaced at half-time in Germany on Tuesday night with what Emery described as a ‘small injury’, and so a late fitness test was set to decide if the England international would keep his place in the starting XI, or if Jhon Duran came in to replace him after scoring in midweek to make it 10 goals in 21 appearances for the season.
As per the club’s post below, there are two changes from the side that started last time out, with Tyrone Mings and Duran coming in to replace Pau Torres and Watkins respectively.
Emery sticks with the system that showed encouraging signs against Leipzig, with Matty Cash continuing in a more advanced role on the right side, and so it’s hoped that it proves to be equally as effective on Saturday evening as we look to secure three important points to keep our momentum going.
The decision to start Mings over Pau makes sense given he adds a steeliness and physicality to our backline for what will be a battle on the road with Chris Wood leading the line for the hosts, while Duran deserves a start regardless of the condition of Watkins given his ongoing impact so far this season.
Nevertheless, it will require a complete team performance away from home to get the job done, and so Villa will hopefully match the standard set in midweek, while tidying up our defensive mistakes and keep things tighter at the back to give ourselves a foundation on which we can go on and seal all three points.
How we start to face Forest this evening 👊 #NFOAVL pic.twitter.com/tHinaQH9MC
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 14, 2024