Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa pre-match thread

[rob_bridge]

We go 3rd with a win. Even for a few hours.

Hard one this as Forest have played decent enough with little return and are good at home. We still concede sloppy goals but that comes with the territory and benefits outweigh disbenefits massively.

2.2

[PaulWinch again]

I think this one is really tricky. We’ll need to be at our best.

[Ads]

I sort of feel like when we were rubbish now, only in reverse, about games. This feels incredibly important if we're to finish top 5.

Away at a bottom 5 side with an opportunity to maintain the gap to 6th and get ahead of some of our top 5 compatriots.

Their home form is poor, hence their league position. Draws with Luton, Brentford and Burnley in their last 3 games. Conceding and obviously scoring 4 in the process. Their only win at home being an 89th minute Wood goal against Sheffield United back in August. No win generally since 2nd September away at mid-table and in flux Chelsea.

We are the only top 5 outfit they've played at home, while they've been comfortably beaten by any top 8 side away; Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Man United.

In their last 3 home games they've managed 13 shots on target and average less than 50% of the ball.

Our last 3 league away games have the poorest performance of the season in Liverpool, then a comfortable win at Chelsea and a game we dropped 2 points in at Wolves. In-between we have an experimental side at Legia and one that annihilated AZ.

So we're not infallible away, but we are much improved from that Liverpool defeat and our form generally is reflected by us being 5th and them 5th bottom.

Should win, have to win, must win. These are the pressure games and I think "tough" place to go isn't really reflected by the evidence. Yes they've not lost, but they've scraped draws against rubbish.

Martinez

Cash
Konsa
Torres
Digne

Bailey
Luiz
Kamara
McGinn

Diaby
Watkins

I'm putting pressure on us to go and win and win well. 2nd highest scorers on the league. Let's add 2 or 3 more. But however we do it, just win today.

[N'ZMAV]

I've got a feeling that Tielemans comes in for Zaniolo today. Bailey is much better at home.

[Rigadon]

Agree with Ads. It gets clearer every week that the top 6 or 7 teams are going to keep on winning against the rest of the league, and the games between that group will determine the order of that top 6 or 7 at the end of the season. It's the most interesting season for ages in terms of how many good sides are competing.  Let's not be the ones who blink first. 

[Meanwood Villa]

I also agree with Ads, Forest's record is pretty woeful this season, ours is pretty great so we really should be winning this.

[PaulWinch again]

Forest’s form is poor but I think they’ve been performing below their level. It won’t be straightforward and we’re going to need to be right at it.

[Ads]

They finished 5th bottom last year and have lost one of their best players in the summer. This is their level. Our aspirations are clear. The manager, token and reserved as the interviews might be, makes clear the aim: to demand more, to impose our style and constantly look to improve. He might be trying to say as little as possible each time, but he's sincere.

We have to go and win here today. The oxygen is thinner the higher up the mountain, so the room for error decreases. We don't want to look back in May at games against the bottom 6 and think "what if". That's old Villa, not Emery Villa.

[Clampy]

It might be similar game to the Luton one although Forest will probably be a bit more adventurous seeing as they're at home. As long as no complacency sets in and we put our chances away, we should win.

[passport1]

Great opportunity  to go third. I don't  think we will pass it up.

[LeeB]

It might be similar game to the Luton one although Forest will probably be a bit more adventurous seeing as they're at home. As long as no complacency sets in and we put our chances away, we should win.

Good, it feels at the minute like the more you come at us, the more we'll hurt you.

[john e]

I agree with all/most of the comments on the last couple of pages
if this is where we are now in and around the top 5/6 these are the sort of games that with our superior squad, ambition and the best manager we’ve had in decades we should be coming out on top in

[Risso]

I agree with all/most of the comments on the last couple of pages
if this is where we are now in and around the top 5/6 these are the sort of games that with our superior squad, ambition and the best manager we’ve had in decades we should be coming out on top in

Absolutely. Generally, our away form is nowhere near as good as our home form, and we need to put that right at shit teams beneath us. We did at Chelsea, we should at Forest.

[Martyn Smith]

Great opportunity  to go third. I don't  think we will pass it up.

A win will see us in the CL places at the end of this round of games in any case

[VillaTim]

Come on me babbies