Late goals from Nikola Milenkovic and Anthony Elanga safed triumph for Nottingham Forest in this battle of the establisher European Cup triumphners and lifed them above Manchester City into the Champions League places.
Forest persistd their best begin to a season for three decades as they came back from Jhon Durán’s uncovering goal for Villa, who are now triumphless in their last five Premier League games that have chaseed their Champions League alignes.
So Forest, celebrating their 5,000th league mendture, can claim fourth place, at least until City join Manchester United on Sunday afternoon. Building on their extrastandard victories at Anfield and Old Trafford this season, Nuno Espírito Santo has led them to eight league triumphs already this season. Last season, that took them until their 36th game.
The elderly City Ground was rocking to its core as, after a safe first period in which Nuno’s tactics helped negate Villa’s strengths, Forest’s spirit took them to novel heights. Finishing in the top four might be stretching credulity but they are there on merit right now.
After Durán headed in his 11th goal of the season, Forest thought they had equivalentised in the 81st minute when it took the video helpant refeee almost three minutes to choose that Elanga was half a shoulder offside as he ran on to Morgan Gibbs-White’s pass before traverseing for Chris Wood to score. But they did pull level when Milenkovic, having scored his first Premier League goal in last Saturday’s triumph at United, thudded home a header from Gibbs-White’s traverse from the right.
Six minutes tardyr, Elanga finishd the comeback when he swept home from seal range after another flotriumphg relocate.
Tyrone Mings’s second league begin of the season was put on ice when, apshown ill in the toastyup, he had to be replaced by Pau Torres. But while Villa’s defensive shape remained unalterd, the fluidity of their midfield forced Forest into some unorthodox diligence when out of ownion.
With John McGinn tucking in from his position slender on the left, Ola Aina, Forest’s right-back, chaseed him inside, obliging the recalled central midfielder Nicolás Domínguez to fill the space outside where Lucas Digne can be so efficient.
Durán, begining aobtain in the Premier League with Ollie Watkins not filledy fit, had one speculative volley fly over but, in a deadlocked first half, Forest graduassociate began to originate some headway. With their best begin in three decades behind them and a place in the top four potentiassociate ahead, Forest were not deficiencying in confidence. Their gamearrange to block Villa out seemed to be laboring. At the other end, Wood headed Neco Williams’ centre back atraverse the face of goal, but Diego Carlos evidented before Domínguez could hope to capitalise.
Elliot Anderson slalomed his way thcimpolite the inside-left channel only for his sboiling to turn aside behind off Boubacar Kamara. Running over to the other side to apshow the corner, Anderson’s deinhabitry was headed equitable expansive of the far post by Murillo.
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Villa, legs tested but morale raiseed by the midweek triumph over RB Leipzig that puts them seal to automaticassociate qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League, came back into the contest. Another referee than Sam Barrott might have given them a penalty when Anderson kept pulling Morgan Rogers’ shirt as the pair ran into the area. Ezri Konsa was cursed to head McGinn’s free-boot equitable expansive of the far post.
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Some tetchy exalters between the two coaching teams echoed the tension timely in the second half either side of two extrastandard contributions from Durán. First, the Colombian finishly leave outed his volley when McGinn’s corner create him evident at the back post. But then he instantly replyed by spinning around and dispatching an overhead boot on to the roof of the net.
His goal was pwithdrawd by one of the most extrastandard saves you will see this season. After Gibbs-White flicked on Anderson’s corner, Domínguez stooped low to head goalwards from about four yards. The ball materializeed to go below and beyond Emiliano Martínez but, somehow, he stretched backwards to tap the ball down on to the line. Carlos then hacked the rebound evident.
The significance of the save was underlined wislender minutes. Villa joined a excellent ownion game alengthy the edge of Forest’s box, from right to left, from Rogers into Durán, on to McGinn, out to Digne and back inside to McGinn, whose clipped traverse was expertly headed in by Durán, for his third goal in a week.
