Aston Villa welcomed Nottingham Forest to Villa Park, hoping to build on their win over Brighton in midweek in their attempt to secure a European place through the Premier League.
A win would mean seven wins in a row for Unai Emery’s men and seventeen undefeated at Villa Park in all competitions.
Fellow FA Cup Semi-Finalists Forest were on a good run of form themselves. They have not lost in five games, going back to their 4-3 defeat in February to Newcastle.
Report: Aston Villa 2-1 Nottingham Forest
Villa have eight games in April, so Emery opted to rotate his side, making eight changes to the side that beat Brighton on Wednesday night.
Andrés García, Tyrone Mings, Axel Disasi, Ian Maatsen, Amadou Onana, Marco Asensio, Donyell Malen and Ollie Watkins all came into the side.
The changes seemed to make an impact with the home side quick out of the blocks, and they could have been ahead after six minutes when Maatsen linked up with Morgan Rogers but was denied by Matz Sels.
Asensio was soon close to scoring his ninth since his move to Villa Park, but his effort went the wrong side of the post after getting on the end of a García low cross.
Villa’s early pressure paid off after 13 minutes when they got the goal their fast start deserved.
Youri Tielemans picked up the ball inside his half before playing a perfect through ball for Rogers, who controlled it with the outside of his foot before slotting past Sels to make it 1-0.
Two minutes later, Villa doubled their lead, leaving the visitors shellshocked.
Maatsen twisted and turned before beating Ryan Yates, he then played a low cross across goal for fellow countryman Malen to tap home to score his second in as many games.
Forest came out of the traps in the second half, having failed to test Emi Martinez in the opening 45.
The Argentine was hoping to build on his four consecutive clean sheets, but it came to an end after 57 minutes when the visitors got themselves back in the game.
Substitute Jota Silva’s shot deflected off Ezri Konsa before nestling into the bottom corner.
The visitors continued to threaten, but Villa were able to hold o,n closing the gap between them and their opposition to just six points.
