Aston Villa beat struggling Nottingham Forest 3-1 at Villa Park on Saturday to ease the pain of the midweek defeat to Arsenal, which saw Manchester City jump to second place in the Premier League.
Ollie Watkins’ goal on the eve of half-time gave Unai Emery’s side a deserved lead and John McGinn grabbed a second early in the second period.
Morgan Gibbs-White pulled a goal back for the visitor but McGinn took advantage of a mistake from Forest goalkeeper John Victor to restore Villa’s two-goal lead.
Villa’s 11-match winning streak in all competitions was brought to a chilling halt on Tuesday with a 4-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium, casting doubt on Villa’s ability to retain the title.
But its impressive record at Villa Park remains intact, having now won 11 games in a row since the 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in August.
Villa started brightly on a biting cold day in Birmingham and were denied an early opener when Victor’s legs saved Watkins’ shot from close range.
Sean Dyche’s Forest, who came into the match on the back of a three-match losing streak, struggled to gain a foothold but the home side failed to capitalize on its dominance in a tepid first half.
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The away side came close to taking the lead with the first shot on target when Emi Martinez was forced to dive to the right to deny Omari Hutchinson.
But the in-form Watkins gave Villa a deserved lead in the closing moments of the half, when they had almost 80 percent of the ball.
The English man received the ball outside the penalty area from Morgan Rogers and scored his fourth goal in three games.
McGinn doubled Villa’s lead in the 49th minute when he sidefooted into the net from Matty Cash’s cross.
Villa looked to be cruising on all three points, but Forest got back into the game in the 61st minute thanks to a fine finish from Gibbs-White, who fired past the diving Martinez.
But Villa were gifted a third goal in the 73rd minute when Victor inexplicably left his goal to try to reach a long ball from Youri Tielemans, even though there were defenders nearby.
Scotland midfielder McGinn collected the ball and remained calm, rounding Victor and slotting the ball into the empty net with his left foot from well outside the area.
The victory puts Villa on 42 points, three behind leaders Arsenal and one ahead of City.
The Gunners are away to Bournemouth later on Saturday, while Pep Guardiola’s men host managerless Chelsea on Sunday.
Forest remain one place above the relegation zone, four points ahead of West Ham, who face Wolves later on Saturday.
Published on January 3, 2026
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