Aston Villa 2-1 Nottingham Forest

A seventh consecutive win was secured as Aston Villa saw off Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday evening.

The home side were the dominant force in the first half at Villa Park, opening the scoring via Morgan Rogers’ 13^th goal of the season after 13 minutes.

A second followed two minutes later when Ian Maatsen crossed for Donyell Malen to score his first goal in B6.

Forest improved after the break and pulled one back courtesy of Jota Silva’s deflected effort in the 57^th minute.

Despite some nervy moments, Villa held firm in the closing stages to pick up the three points, taking the club up to sixth in the table and making it 17 home games unbeaten.

For the second of eight matches in April, Unai Emery rotated his squad and made eight changes to his starting XI, bringing Andrés García, Tyrone Mings, Axel Disasi, Maatsen, Amadou Onana, Marco Asensio, Malen and Ollie Watkins into the team.  

The fresh legs helped the hosts get off to a strong start, testing Matz Sels after six minutes when Maatsen fired goalwards after a neat exchange with Rogers.

Asensio came close to notching the ninth goal of his loan spell soon after when he nudged García’s cross narrowly wide, and Youri Tielemans sent a low shot bouncing wide as Villa continued to probe for the opener.

Forest, who have kept a league-high 13 clean sheets, were struggling to contain the home side and their defences were breached in the 13^th minute.

Tielemans picked the ball up inside his own half and measured an inch-perfect through ball to the feet of Rogers, who took a sublime touch with the outside of his foot before slotting the ball between Sels’ legs.

Roared on by a passionate Villa Park, one quickly became two as Maatsen turned Ryan Yates inside out before crossing for countryman Malen to net his first goal in B6.

Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi both slid shots wide in quick succession as the Tricky Trees offered a reminder of their attacking threat.

Tielemans and Onana wrestled back control in the middle of the park as Villa headed into the break with a two-goal lead.

Forest had failed to test Emi Martínez in the opening 45 minutes, and they continued their habit of sending presentable openings wide of the target at the beginning of the second half via Neco Williams and Hudson-Odoi.

Martínez had kept four consecutive clean sheets but he saw his unbeaten run come to an end after 57 minutes when substitute Jota’s shot flicked off Ezri Konsa and nestled in the bottom corner.

The visitors were suddenly in the ascendency, attacking with menace and winning duels, and they came close to a swift second when Elliot Anderson drilled inches wide.

Emery responded by introducing Jacob Ramsey, Marcus Rashford and Boubacar Kamara from the bench, but it was goalscorer Rogers who almost eased the nerves around Villa Park with a third.

Having collected a long ball from Martínez, the winger drove into then box before gliding past Nikola Milenkovic with fast feet and seeing his shot smothered by Sels.

The Belgian stopper made a smart stop at his near post from a Tielemans drive soon after to ensure his team headed into the final ten minutes only one goal behind.

Williams arrowed a shot a whisker wide of the far post and Murillo went even closer in stoppage time, clipping the crossbar with a 30-yard thunderbolt.

Sels clawed Rashford's shot away from danger as Villa tried and failed to put the game to bed, but two goals were all they needed as the full-time whistle made it seven wins on the bounce.