Aston Villa 2-0 Nottingham Forest

Goals from Bertrand Traoré and Ollie Watkins fired Aston Villa past Nottingham Forest at Villa Park and secured a fourth consecutive Premier League win.

Traoré, who came on as a first-half substitute, followed up his winner against Leicester City in midweek with the opening goal after 48 minutes.

Villa monopolised possession throughout the hard-fought contest but found clear-cut chances hard to come by against a stubborn Forest side before adding a second in injury time when Watkins dinked home his ninth goal in 11 games.

Emiliano Martínez was rarely troubled at the other end as the Villans equalled the club’s best run since returning to the top flight in 2019, overtaking last season's points tally in the process.

Unai Emery kept faith with the team that started Tuesday’s 2-1 victory at Leicester City as he looked to mastermind a fourth straight win.

A buoyant atmosphere met the Villa players following two away day successes and the Villa Park crowd almost had a goal to celebrate inside of two minutes when Watkins pulled a shot narrowly wide.

Arriving in B6 on an eight-game winless run, Forest aimed to stifle the hosts with ten men behind the ball when out of possession, leaving Brennan Johnson as their sole attacking outlet.

Leon Bailey’s pace offered one route through the visitors’ backline when he raced to the byline and pulled the ball back for Watkins, who saw his header pushed wide by Keylor Navas.

The Jamaican pulled up holding his hamstring as a result of the exertion and had to be replaced by Tuesday’s hero Traoré just before the half-hour mark.

Villa continued to pen their opponents into their own half, probing unsuccessfully for a clear-cut opening before the break, with a wayward shot from Traoré the closest they came to troubling Navas.

The frustration that had been creeping into the stadium dissipated within three minutes of the restart when Traoré broke the deadlock.

An inside pass from Ashley Young set the winger away down the right and after his low cross was palmed away by Navas, Jonjo Shelvey rolled the ball into his path and left Traoré with a simple finish.

A spirited response from Forest highlighted the need for a second goal, and Emi Buendía came close to scoring it when he volleyed Álex Moreno’s cross inches wide of the post.

Steve Cooper’s team had scored just five times away from home this campaign and they failed to test Martínez much beyond a tame effort from Danilo as the game ticked into four minutes of stoppage time.

'Control' has been a key message from Emery since his arrival at Villa, and his side managed injury time perfectly before adding a second goal in the final seconds to extend their unbeaten run to seven games.

Watkins got himself on the scoresheet once again, finishing from close-range with a measured dink over Navas to leave Villa Park jubilant at full-time.