Convincing Third Straight Win For Aston Villa Over Forest

Heading into the away fixture against Nottingham Forest, Villa’s league form was beginning to look a lot healthier with two wins in two.

However, defeat to Peterborough United last week in the FA Cup meant that club’s start to 2018 had been mixed. With some fans calling to ‘concentrate on the league’, it was up to the lads to answer these calls.

Commitment

From the first whistle, it seemed that the players were determined to do just that. They limited the home side to some unthreatening possession. Meanwhile, Aston Villa managed to create the opening and only goal of the game:

Robert Snodgrass had already been involved in a third of Aston Villa’s goals this season. His searching cross in the eighteenth minute of the match almost seemed destined for the keeper’s gloves. However, some excellent movement from Scott Hogan enabled him to get in front of Jordan Smith, heading the ball into the net before it was gathered. With two goals in his last two games, Hogan may be beginning to prove any doubters wrong. His movement is very strong and with balls being played into some real threatening areas, goals will come. Writing this report, I am not ashamed to admit that Hogan is slowly proving me wrong too- we just have to play in this way that suits him better!

Cool, Calm, Collected

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Aston Villa could have gone in at the break with a two-goal advantage. Once again acting as Head of Chance Development, Snoddy whipped in a curling free-kick which both Terry and Chester fancied. It was the skipper who arrived just ahead of his defensive partner. His header rattled off the crossbar. It remained 0-1 at the break.

During the interval, birthday-boy Glenn Whelan was brought off, presumably to get the pints in for the coach ride home. Birkir Bjarnason replaced him.

Quick side note at this point: Bjarnason’s appearance during the Bristol City game was met with groans, expletives and sarcastic comments from the fellow Villa behind me in the Holte. He ended his rant by saying, “He’ll score now, you watch!” And not five minutes later, he did (and the man took it as well as he could!). So, this time I was saying nothing…

But…Bjarnason in the holding-midfield role? WIth Lansbury on the bench, it seemed an odd decision but with rumours of an imminent departure, perhaps he was putting himself in the shop window. Despite this, ‘Thor’ played superbly. He contributed to a half in which Forest very rarely threatened an equaliser. Whilst Villa did not appear to ever be running away with the game, the half seemed comfortable and the Icelandic midfielder looked assured in this new position. To put the all-important stats on it, here were the numbers:

Concentration

However, a game is never fully secure with a one-goal lead and Villa will count themselves lucky that Johnstone is a keeper that remains switched on rather than bringing a cushion onto the pitch. Despite not being busy, Forest’s McDowell would call him into action. His powerful long-range strike forced Johnstone to dive and tip the ball around the goal for a corner. Otherwise, Forest looked an increasingly frustrated bunch. Villa could have extended their lead as the home side sought an equaliser. A breaking move saw some brilliant strength from substitute Keinan Davis and a searching pass from Grealish. Adomah simply had to turn and pick his spot. Unfortunately, he was deemed offside.

Impressive Squad Depth

With the game nearing its conclusion, Neil Taylor replaced Adomah in the final moments. It’s a testament to the squad’s depth that the Welshman cannot get into the starting eleven, currently. It is hard to say that he has put a foot wrong, however, it is the ‘Scottish Cafu’ Alan Hutton’s determination that keeps pushing him out. Villa extended their run of wins to three games. If we are to continue on a long run, we’ll need all of these players to continue stepping up whenever they get the opportunity, a la Bjarnason or Elphick.