Aston Villa's Struggles Continue After Defeat to Nottingham Forest
Tyrone Mings stayed down at full-time, slumped on the turf as Villa Park emptied around him. Nobody ever promised this would be easy, but Aston Villa’s slide is starting to feel alarmingly familiar.
Unai Emery’s side were beaten 2-1 by Nottingham Forest, their third defeat in four league games. The questions that followed a summer rebuild are only getting louder.
Old Problems, New Season
Villa finally snapped a barren run of 372 Premier League minutes without a goal, yet the sense of drift remained. If Coventry beat Brighton on Sunday, last season’s Europa League winners could find themselves bottom of the table.
This is now the fourth time Villa have opened a top-flight campaign without a win in their first four matches, matching slow starts in 1992-93, 1997-98 and 2025-26. It also echoes last season’s stumbling opening, only this time the context is different. The fourth-place finish and that historic European triumph suddenly feel distant, almost detached from the side now struggling to recognise itself.
Forest, by contrast, walked away with a statement victory and a slice of history. A late winner from Igor Jesus secured their first league win at Villa Park since 1994 and gave Oliver Glasner his first success as Forest boss. It also stretched his personal unbeaten run against Emery to eight games. This one will sit near the top of his collection.
Delap Sparks, Villa Unravel
The visitors were sharper from the restart. Just 45 seconds into the second half, Liam Delap punished Villa, finishing clinically to cap a performance that tormented a patched-up back line. He would later have another goal ruled out, but his impact was already decisive.
Villa briefly stirred. Brazilian forward Alysson, on as a substitute, glanced in John McGinn’s cross for his first goal in English football, an equaliser that arrived against the run of play and seemed to offer Emery a lifeline.
Normally, this is where Villa Park roars and the game tilts. Not this time.
As the clock ticked down, Forest kept coming. They finished with 22 shots and an eye-catching 32 touches inside the Villa box. The pressure finally told two minutes from time when Jesus nipped in ahead of Aaron Wan-Bissaka to stab home the winner, reward for Forest’s aggression and Villa’s disarray.
Injuries, Anger and a Thin Back Line
By the time Jesus struck, Villa were hanging on with 10 men. Full-back Ian Maatsen had already limped off with what looked a serious ankle injury after Emery had used all five substitutes, deepening a defensive crisis that had begun earlier in the half.
Pau Torres had been forced off in the first period, leaving a back line that already looked thin stretched to breaking point. Summer signing Taylor Harwood-Bellis was again left out of the squad, but with a Carabao Cup trip to Coventry on Wednesday and a league visit to Tottenham to follow, the £30m defender will expect his chance at the CBS Arena.
Emery did not hide his anger over the challenge that injured Maatsen, pointing the finger at Forest attacker James McAtee.
“After watching it on TV, I think the VAR should call the referee because it's a clear tackle behind the player and, for me, it should be a red card,” he said.
He drew a comparison with Villa’s defeat at Brighton, when Joao Gomes was dismissed for two yellow cards, insisting his side had accepted that decision. Here, he felt they were left short-changed.
“He didn't want to injure our player but if we can watch it through the TV, it's a VAR action, and to call the referee and should be a red card, and maybe finishing with 10 v 10 was maybe different in the match,” he added.
Then came the admission that will worry Villa fans most.
“We played so so poor, and this is our work and our responsibility or my responsibility.”
Fortress Crumbling
The statistics tell their own story. Forest’s front line, led by a rejuvenated Delap, ran Villa ragged. An ineffective home attack offered little in response.
There was one surreal moment: a chaotic scramble in the Forest box when Victor Lindelof somehow failed to score, denied in turn by Matz Sels, Murillo and the post. Beyond that, Villa created almost nothing of substance.
Nicolas Jackson, booked early and walking a tightrope, was hooked at half-time, replaced by Tammy Abraham – a striker Emery had been willing to move on in the summer. Alysson also came off the bench to score, but the late introductions of Johan Manzambi and Ibrahim Mbaye, a combined £98m of talent, did not change the pattern.
Alejandro Garnacho stayed rooted to the bench once more. The Chelsea loanee has yet to convince Emery he merits a role in this stuttering attack.
This used to be a ground opponents feared. Villa went 12 months without a home league defeat until Crystal Palace, then managed by Glasner, won 3-0 last August. Since then, the aura has steadily drained away.
Palace returned to win 2-1 in the Carabao Cup. Villa lost four of their final 15 home league games last season, relying on late rallies to scrape a point against Leeds and snatch wins over Brighton and Sunderland. A 3-1 FA Cup exit to Newcastle exposed further cracks.
This season, champions Arsenal opened with a 1-0 win here. Forest have now followed up, and Villa Park no longer feels like a fortress. It feels vulnerable.
Mitigations, But No Hiding Place
There are explanations, if not excuses. A reshaped squad after key departures. The North Stand redevelopment cutting capacity and leaving one end of the ground empty of supporters, stripping away some of the noise and intimidation that once defined this place.
Yet the drop-off at home is now too stark to ignore.
When it mattered most last season, Villa delivered. They demolished Forest in the Europa League semi-final on this pitch on their way to lifting the trophy, then hit Liverpool for four to lock in a Champions League spot. Those nights were built on control, belief and a sense of inevitability once Villa found a way back into games.
Here, after Alysson’s equaliser, there was no surge, no sense that the home side would turn the screw. Just uncertainty. Emery admitted he could not immediately explain why his team lost their shape.
“I want to see the match again and to understand why we lost our shape,” he said.
For once, the coach who has so often found answers at Villa is left searching. Jesus had the final word. Emery now has to find a new one, and quickly, before a slow start turns into something far more damaging.
