Aston Villa were made to settle for a Premier League point at The City Ground on Sunday afternoon, being held to a 1-1 draw by Nottingham Forest.
An end-to-end affair saw Unai Emery’s men take the lead midway through the opening period, as Morgan Rogers forced an own-goal from Murillo, before Neco Williams’ strike clawed the hosts back level at the midway stage.
And, despite the Villans carving out numerous opportunities to take all three points after the break, they were met by a series of strong stops from Matz Sels in the Forest net, earning the hosts a share of the spoils and ensuring Villa would remain fourth in the standings.
Emery named two changes to his starting XI which triumphed 3-1 at Bologna in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night, with Ross Barkley and Victor Lindelöf coming in for Emi Buendía and Ezri Konsa.
But two changes had turned to three before kick-off, with Marco Bizot replacing Emi Martínez between the sticks after the Argentine pulled out of Villa’s warm-up, and his replacement had to be alert eight minutes in to tip Williams’ curling effort behind, as Forest made a bright start in the pouring Nottingham rain.
And, having soaked up 15 minutes of pressure from the hosts, Villa started to grow into the game, enjoying more of the ball in the attacking third, leading to the opening goal midway through the opening period.
Lucas Digne played a clever, first-time ball into Rogers wide on the left, and he drilled a stinging cross into the area which ricocheted off the leg of Murillo. Forest’s Brazilian defender could not sort his feet out in time, and in the blink of an eye, the ball was in the back of Sels’ net, and the Villans were ahead.
Morgan Rogers
Buoyed by their opener, the visitors quickly sought a second. Progressing the ball forward with zip and purpose, Barkley found Rogers who immediately played a first-time pass into the feet of Ollie Watkins who was denied by Sels, before the flag went up for offside.
Emery’s charges were moving the ball well on a tricky surface, and nine minutes before the break, they were inches away from doubling their lead. Amadou Onana fed John McGinn who did well to pick out Rogers in the centre. He turned neatly inside the area but could only rocket his effort against the top of the crossbar.
Two minutes later, they would be made to rue the missed opportunity, as the hosts drew level. Villa failed to clear their lines, allowing Callum Hudson-Odoi to tee up Williams, and the Welshman fired a fierce effort into bottom corner from the edge of the area to restore parity.
And it was Forest, fresh from their equalising goal, who ended the half with a flurry. Morgan Gibbs-White forced Bizot into another smart stop with a testing effort from distance, as the opening period drew to a close even.
Marco Bizot
The hosts began the second period with the same energy they ended the first, and within four minutes of the restart, goalscorer Williams had clipped a ball to the back post which Igor Jesus could only head against the turf and over Bizot’s bar.
But Villa were quick to respond, and worked on gaining territory of their own inside the Forest half. Youri Tielemans flashed a first-time effort wide of the post from outside the area, as conditions cleared and the downpour which plagued the opening period ceased.
The visitors were breaking well, and on the hour mark, another neat passing move ended with Onana dragging an effort towards the bottom corner from the edge of the area, but Sels was down well to hold.
And, after Bizot showed superb reflexes to keep out a Gibbs-White effort which had deflected off of Matty Cash and threatened to wrongfoot him, the Villans again got back on the offensive, twice coming close to re-taking the lead.
John McGinn
First, Tielemans played a ball into the path of McGinn, who stroked a curling, first-time effort towards the bottom corner which Sels brilliantly tipped around the post, before two minutes later, Rogers was left wondering how he had not notched the visitors’ second of the game, skying from inside the area with the goal gaping, after Sels could only palm Barkley’s strike from an angle in his direction.
Emery introduced Ian Maatsen, Douglas Luiz and Buendía from the bench as his side sought a would-be winning goal, and the substitutes almost had an instant impact, the Argentine squaring for Watkins 11 minutes from time, though he could only turn his effort over when one on one with Sels.
Villa furiously threw themselves forward as the game entered the closing stages, Maatsen the next to be denied by Sels, before the Forest goalkeeper could only parry away a menacing strike Cash had let fly with from distance.
And, despite pushing for a winner throughout the four minutes of added time, the Villans found themselves thwarted by Vítor Pereira’s men, as they left Nottingham with a point, ahead of Thursday’s Europa League Quarter-Final second leg at home to Bologna on Thursday (ko 8pm).
Nott'm Forest: Sels, Aina (Ndoye 89'), Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams, Sangaré, Anderson, Hutchinson (Wood 65'), Gibbs-White (Domínguez 84'), Hudson-Odoi, Igor Jesus (Yates 89')
Aston Villa: Bizot, Cash (García 91'), Lindelöf, Torres, Digne (Maatsen 78'), Onana, Tielemans, McGinn, Barkley (Douglas Luiz 77'), Rogers (Buendía 78'), Watkins (Abraham 87')
Subs: Konsa, Buendía, García, Abraham, Douglas Luiz, Maatsen, Bogarde, Bailey, Wright