Key events
Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has confirmed Callum Hudson-Odoi has picked up a knock which is why he is not involved today. He told Sky Sports:
We don’t think it’s too serious… this game has come around a bit quick with another in a few days.
We have already had a few bites for who is in line for Premier League traitor and both are for the same player. Erol Suleyman and Gareth Davis have emailed and said:
Shall we just put this one to bed early in two words? Sol. Campbell.
Sol Campbell, God bless his soul!
The reality TV show Traitors has returned in the UK and it got me thinking about footballing treachery. Is there a manager who got the boot but didn’t see it coming? Or a player who signed for a rival club? I’d like to know who you think is the ultimate Premier League traitor. Email me to let me know.
Who is leading the Premier League Golden Boot race? We have you covered, catch up here:
How times change. This time last year Nottingham Forest were third in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have changed, including the manager twice and Sean Dyche is charged with keeping the club in the top-flight this season. Since being appointed on 21 October, Dyche has won 10 Premier League points and the side are just outside the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.
Have you kept up to date with all of the moves in the transfer window so far? No? Well we have all of them on one place for you:
Harvey Elliott has no future at Aston Villanews that was confirmed by the manager Unai Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss said:
I am respecting him all we can because he’s a very good professional, very respectful. The problem we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and if he is playing matches, we must buy him. We decided two months ago we are not convinced to sign him, spending the money we need.
Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has said on his opponent today:
He’s [Unai Emery] done a great job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been good – spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve moulded it into a good unit, so certainly a tough game.
We’ve just shown lately, we’ve taken on some of the bigger teams, or the ones that are fancied every year, and done very well against them – and a couple of teams maybe not as fancied, we haven’t done as well against them. That’s probably the challenge of the group – rising to the expectation of each game rather than just big games.
The team news is in. Unai Emery has made four changes to his starting XI who lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time out.
Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins.
Bench: Bazot, Digne, Sancho, Garroll, Carroil, Hemmings, Hemmings, Male, Jumal-Amob.
Nottingham Forest have made also four changes to their starting squad after a 2-0 loss to Everton.
Nott’m Forest: Victor, Williams, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, I Jesus, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Aina.
Bench: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to this Premier League fixture between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Villa will be the favourites to win in this early kick-off as they are flying this season and are currently in third, while Nottingham Forest are 17th and just four points outside of the relegation zone.
Both clubs are coming into the game off of the back of a loss as Villa were defeated 4-1 by top-of-the-table Arsenal and Forest lost 2-0 to Everton.
It will be difficult for Sean Dyche’s side to come away with all three points with Villa having one of the best home forms in Europe at the moment and they also recorded a club record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But maybe it’s new year, new story? We will find out very soon.
The team news will drop shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT.
