Aston Villa's Struggles Continue: A 2-1 Defeat to Nottingham Forest

Tyrone Mings stayed down on the turf at full-time, shoulders slumped, staring at nothing. Nobody ever promised this would be easy, but Aston Villa’s reality is biting hard.

A 2-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest leaves Unai Emery with three losses from four league games, a misfiring rebuild, and a fanbase wondering how a team that scaled such heights last season has fallen so quickly out of rhythm.

From glory to anxiety

Just a few months ago, Villa were riding a wave: fourth in the Premier League, Europa League winners, Villa Park bouncing under the lights. Those nights feel distant now.

This is the fourth time in their history they’ve opened a top-flight campaign without a win in their first four matches, repeating the slow starts of 1992-93, 1997-98 and 2025-26. The pattern mirrors last season’s early stumble, but the mood is very different. Back then, there was a sense of a project building. Now, it feels like a puzzle Emery hasn’t yet solved.

If Coventry beat Brighton on Sunday, Villa will wake up bottom of the table.

They did at least end a 372-minute Premier League goal drought. It barely softened the blow.

Forest seize their moment

For Oliver Glasner, this was a statement. A first win as Forest boss, a first Forest victory at Villa Park since 1994, and an eighth game unbeaten against Emery. He has enjoyed this duel before; this one will rank among his favourites.

Forest came to play. They had 22 shots, 32 touches in the Villa box and a centre-forward in Liam Delap who tormented a patched-up defence all afternoon.

Delap needed just 45 seconds after half-time to rip open Villa’s fragile confidence, finishing clinically to put Forest ahead and set the tone for a second half the hosts never truly controlled. He even had another goal ruled out, such was his constant threat.

Villa briefly fought back. Brazilian forward Alysson, on as a substitute, glanced in John McGinn’s cross with a deft header against the run of play to level it, his first goal in English football. Under Emery, that equaliser has so often been the spark for a late surge at Villa Park.

Not this time.

The pressure told at the other end. With two minutes left, Igor Jesus stole in front of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and swept in the winner. Forest had been sharper, braver and more coherent. They fully earned the three points.

Injuries, red-card fury and a stretched squad

By the end, Villa were hanging on with 10 men – not through a dismissal, but because of an injury crisis unfolding in real time.

Pau Torres had already gone off in the first half, thinning a backline that already looked light. Taylor Harwood-Bellis, signed for £30m in the summer, was once again left out of the squad entirely, a decision that now looks even more curious with a trip to Coventry in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday and Tottenham away to come.

Then came the moment that infuriated Emery. Full-back Ian Maatsen, another key piece in the new-look side, was forced off with an ankle injury after a challenge from James McAtee. Villa had used all their substitutes. Down to 10. Under siege. And eventually broken.

Emery did not hide his anger at the officiating.

“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. “Of course, they deserved it (the win), but the decision of the referee should be different.”

He referenced Joao Gomes’ two yellows and dismissal at Brighton, pointing out that Villa had accepted that decision. This time, he felt the call went against them at a critical moment.

Yet he refused to hide behind it.

“It's not an excuse how we play the second half,” he admitted. “We played so so poor, and this is our work and our responsibility or my responsibility.”

There is also concern that Maatsen’s ankle problem could sideline him for a “considerable” period. That would thrust new signing Matteo Ruggeri into the spotlight sooner than Emery might have planned, in a defence already creaking.

Villa Park losing its fear factor

Once, Villa Park felt like a fortress under Emery. It no longer does.

For 12 months, they didn’t lose a league game at home – until Glasner’s former club Crystal Palace came and won 3-0 last August. Since then, the cracks have widened.

Glasner has now won here twice with two different clubs, also knocking Villa out of the Carabao Cup last season with Palace. Villa lost four of their final 15 home league matches last term, and even when results came, they often needed late goals to salvage or snatch points against Leeds, Brighton and Sunderland.

A 3-1 FA Cup defeat to Newcastle underlined the vulnerability. This season has opened with a 1-0 home loss to champions Arsenal and now this bruising defeat to Forest.

There are reasons Emery can point to. A remodelled squad after several key departures. The North Stand redevelopment leaving one end of the ground without fans and the capacity reduced. The atmosphere, quite literally, has changed.

But the drop-off at home is now too stark to ignore. Villa’s identity under Emery was built on intensity, control and a sense of inevitability at Villa Park. Right now, that aura has evaporated.

Misfiring attack, muddled answers

If the defence is stretched, the attack looks blunt and uncertain.

Nicolas Jackson started but lasted only 45 minutes. Emery hauled him off at half-time, worried the Senegal striker might see red after an early booking. Tammy Abraham, a player the club tried to move on in the summer, replaced him.

Alysson came on and scored, but beyond his header, Villa created very little of substance. One comical goalmouth scramble summed up their afternoon: Victor Lindelof somehow failed to convert after Matz Sels, Murillo and the post combined to deny him in a chaotic few seconds.

Glasner’s side, by contrast, looked like they knew exactly what they wanted to do. They pressed, broke with conviction and kept Villa penned back. The visitors’ 22 shots told the story; Villa’s attacks fizzled out with worrying regularity.

Late on, Emery turned to his big-money reinforcements. Johan Manzambi and Ibrahim Mbaye – a combined £98m of talent – came off the bench for their debuts. Neither could tilt the game back Villa’s way.

Alejandro Garnacho, on loan from Chelsea, watched it all from the bench again. Unused. Untrusted, for now. Emery clearly remains unconvinced he can impact these tight, tense contests.

Emery searching for solutions

As the final whistle went and Mings sank to the grass, Emery cut a thoughtful, almost bewildered figure on the touchline. He has been the man with the answers at Villa for so long. Suddenly, he is the one asking the questions.

“I don't know why,” he said, when asked why his team lost control after equalising. “I want to see the match again and to understand why we lost our shape.”

That line will worry supporters as much as the scoreline. This is a coach famed for detail, structure, clarity. Right now, his team look anything but clear.

The schedule offers no mercy. Coventry away in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday – with the possibility Villa arrive there bottom of the Premier League – then Tottenham away in the league. Harwood-Bellis will expect, and probably need, minutes at the CBS Arena. Ruggeri may be thrown straight into the fire. Emery has to rewire a defence on the fly.

Last season, Villa found a way to win at home when it mattered most. They tore through Forest in the Europa League semi-final on this ground, then put four past Liverpool to seal a Champions League place. The place crackled with belief.

Now, the same stadium feels anxious, edgy, waiting for something to go wrong.

Igor Jesus had the final say this time, not a late Villa hero. As Forest celebrated in front of their travelling fans, Emery stood on the touchline, already calculating, already searching.

The question now is simple and unforgiving: how quickly can he find the answers before this slow start becomes something far more serious?