Aston Villa’s 4-2 victory over Nottingham Forest, which came after three straight losses across all competitions to begin 2024, was acknowledged by Unai Emery as “very important”.
Ollie Watkins began the score and Douglas Luiz added a brace, giving Villa a 3-0 lead before the half. However, just before the interval, Moussa Niakhate cut the deficit for the visiting team. Soon after the restart, Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White added a second goal, but on the hour mark, Leon Bailey restored Villa’s two-goal advantage to secure the points.
“It was crucial,” Emery stated to the BBC. “After home losses, we adjusted well at Sheffield United and Fulham, but we needed assurance and a response here. At Villa Park, we are really at ease and self-assured.
“We had a good enough reason to win. We had some misgivings during the first fifteen minutes of the second half, but we responded effectively and remained composed after playing a really great first half.
“We were aware before to the game that they could participate even though we were winning. They could surprise us because they have several pace guys and excellent transitions.
“We took great effort to avoid that. In the first half, we gave up no transitions and only gave up one corner, which they converted into a point. After their second goal, we displayed excellent maturity and character, and we went on to score and dominate the game.
“We have very different ways to threaten the opponent and different teams demand different things.”
