Aston Villa returned to strong form, beating Nottingham Forest 3-1 at home, securing important three points and overtaking Manchester City to rise to second place in the Premier League.
On 3 Jan 2026 GMT+7, Aston Villa delivered a strong performance, defeating Nottingham Forest 3-1 at Villa Park in the English Premier League.
In this match, Unai Emery's 'Villans' clearly dominated possession. In the first half, the home side continuously pressed and scored the opening goal in stoppage time from Ollie Watkins in the 45+1 minute, giving Villa a 1-0 lead at halftime.
In the second half, Villa maintained their intensity and quickly extended their lead to 2-0 in the 49th minute through John McGinn, capitalizing on a poorly cleared ball from Forest's defense.
However, Forest did not give up easily and pulled one back to 2-1 in the 62nd minute with a sharp counterattack finished by Morgan Gibbs-White, sparking hope for the visitors.
That hope was short-lived as a mistake by Forest's goalkeeper allowed McGinn to score his second goal of the game in the 73rd minute, sealing a 3-1 victory for Aston Villa.
This result brought Aston Villa's total points to 42, moving them up to second place in the Premier League temporarily, ahead of Manchester City, and maintaining pressure on the title contenders.