Aston Villa v Forest Pre-Match Thread

[PaulWinch again]

Forest are definitely making top 4. They would have to absolutely drop off a cliff and they’ve shown no signs of that happening.

We need to beat them for our chances to stay possible, but it doesn’t really matter either way for them.

[Nev]

To describe this game as a bit of a bruiser would probably undersell it somewhat, although most of the physicality will come from the opposition. Allied to that they have the spirit of Savage in Ryan Yates, a limited footballer but world class shithouse, or "a bit of a ******" to use the old fashioned term. I will be howling at him from the first whistle from the UH, only pausing to give some to the ref.

It's up to us to overcome this sort of approach, and be careful that we don't panic the opposition into playing football, amongst all the muck and bullets they can play now and again.

We owe them for December and spoiling Nodge's birthday celebrations. I hope we get the winner via an obvious foul by Cash that is overlooked by the officials.

1-0 and 14 mins added on.

[Somniloquism]

Hopefully one of the big lads will mark that massive Serbian CB when they have a corner, and not SJM or Cash/Digne.

Was he the one having a right shouting match with Gibbs-White after a Manure chance? I thought it was going to be this decades Bowyer/Dyer but unfortunately it didn't get that far. 

[Drummond]

Mings in there will sort him out.

[darren woolley]

I'm also going for a 2-1 Villa win.

[ChicagoLion]

If we score first we win.

[Dave]

If we score first we win.

Didn't help last time we played the bastards.

[ChicagoLion]

If we score first we win.

Didn't help last time we played the bastards.

I think we are a bit more resilient now, also hope the ref is not as biased this time.

[VillaTim]

we are a different animal now to back then.

[Sexual Ealing]

Ben Fisher has done his hopes of a Pulitzer no harm at all in today's Guardian preview of the game. A beautifully crafted vignette that interrogates, teases and provokes shafts of light into the transgressive, liminal promise of the January transfer window. Read it, then read it again. You won't find a better, more urgent, more visceral piece of writing this year. A tour de force.

[DennisHodgetts]

I feel Forest have seriously rode their luck big time this season. They don't want the ball, bully and use pace and a big target man to hit on the break or on a set piece. They need bringing back down to earth with a shellacking and I hope we are the team to do it, especially as we are in form at last! 3-0 at least...please Villa and keep the late climb  into the CL

[Brazilian Villain]

I think Mings back instead of Torres, other then that we have so many choices it is tough to call.

Agree with that. I'd also start with Onana who was very good last night and maybe bring Garcia in for Cash.

Or use the BP coupons.

I'd have said Green Shield Stamps but you're probably too young to remember them.

[Brazilian Villain]

If anyone fancies a bit of culture pre-match. https://x.com/PunjabiVillans/status/1908042812735570277

[VillaTim]

I feel Forest have seriously rode their luck big time this season. They don't want the ball, bully and use pace and a big target man to hit on the break or on a set piece. They need bringing back down to earth with a shellacking and I hope we are the team to do it, especially as we are in form at last! 3-0 at least...please Villa and keep the late climb  into the CL

Feels very much like the Newcastle home game (3-0) a couple of seasons ago. We need a performance like that again.

[Smithy]

Forest are definitely making top 4. They would have to absolutely drop off a cliff and they’ve shown no signs of that happening.

We need to beat them for our chances to stay possible, but it doesn’t really matter either way for them.

I disagree with regards to Forest being a shoe-in for Top 4. If we beat them, and the three other teams (Chelsea, Man City, Newcastle) behind them also win, they will be 2,3,4 and 6 points ahead of the four teams behind them with Champions League ambitions, with 7 games to go.   It's entirely possible two of those teams could overtake them.  Two of them could overtake them in a single round of matches.

It's a bit different to last year with us, when with 7 games to go, we were 2 points ahead of Spurs, but then it was a further EIGHT points back to the next side, Man Utd.  And ELEVEN points back to Chelsea in 7th.  We were essentially in a two-horse race for the top 4, with some form of European football pretty much guaranteed even if we missed out.

Forest are in a five-horse race for the top 4 (being generous to us if we beat them, you could call it a four-horse race if not), and they're all pretty close to them.  We needed one team, Spurs, to have a stuttering finish, and they delivered.  Forest need AT LEAST two of us, Man City, Chelsea and Newcastle to have a stuttering end to the season.  I think that's less likely, given they have to play three of them (us, Man City and Chelsea on the last day).

They're definitely in pole position, obviously, but if we beat them, then I think it totally opens the race up to 3rd.