Villa versus Forest: Top-Flight Match Preview

The team news is in. Unai Emery has made a quartet of alterations to his starting lineup who lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time out.

Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins.

Bench: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba.

Nottingham Forest have also made four adjustments to their matchday squad after a 2-0 loss to Everton.

Nottingham Forest: Victor, Williams, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, I Jesus, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Aina.

Substitutes: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott.

Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has commented on his opponent today:

"He has done a fantastic job as a manager there. Their recruitment has been strong - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some excellent players and they’ve shaped it into a strong side, so certainly a tough game.

We’ve just shown lately, we’ve taken on some of the bigger teams, or the ones that are favoured every year, and held our own against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as fancied, we haven't performed as strongly against them. That’s likely the challenge of the group - rising to the challenge of each game rather than just the major fixtures."

The midfielder has no future at Aston Villa, an update that was revealed by the manager Emery in the lead-up to this match. The boss said:

"We respect him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very dedicated. The situation we have with Harvey is this year he is a loan player and if he is playing matches, we are obligated to buy him. We made the decision two months ago we are not persuaded to sign him, committing the money we would need to."

How times change. This time last year Forest were in third place in the table, where Aston Villa are now. A lot of things have changed, including the manager twice and the current boss is tasked with keeping the club in the top-flight this season. Since being appointed on 21 October, Dyche has accumulated 10 Premier League points and the side are just outside the relegation zone with 19 games of the season to go.