Man City's slide after beating Forest, Aston Villa a serious challenger to Arsenal
JAKARTA - Aston Villa is increasingly taken into account in the race for the English Premier League title. Especially after Villa won a convincing 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest in a match at Villa Park Stadium, Saturday, January 3, 2026 WIB. The victory displaced Manchester City and made Villa a serious challenger to Arsenal.
Villa went berserk and Forest, who hoped to rise to the challenge, could get away from the relegation zone. Yes, in the previous match, Villa was defeated by Arsenal 4-1. A painful defeat after Villa showed strength by slaughtering elite teams, Manchester United and Chelsea.
The defeat against Arsenal thwarted Villa's efforts to cut the points gap with the North London club who are firmly at the top of the table. However, Unai Emery's team did not want to sink into disappointment. They showed a resurgence when playing at home.
In the duel against Forest, Jadon Sancho et al. successfully won 3-1 which made them able to meet the target of cutting the points gap. This is the 11th victory in the home match as well as the best record in the last 36 years.
Villa, who has 42 points, also displaced Man City because they are one point ahead. Not only that, The Villans are only three points behind Arsenal who are at the top of the standings.
However, the Gunners can still get away if they beat Bournemouth.
Meanwhile, for Forest, the fourth consecutive defeat makes them have to be alert. This is because Sean Dyche's troops who have 18 points are only four points ahead of West Ham United who are in 18th place or the relegation zone.
In that match, Villa actually had trouble facing Forest's efficient game. Even the hosts almost didn't get a chance throughout the first half which made the match a little boring.
After failing to take advantage of the opportunity, striker Ollie Watkins finally managed to break the deadlock before halftime.
Receiving a pass from Morgan Rogers, the England national team player unleashed a powerful shot from outside the penalty area that defeated goalkeeper John Victor.
Entering the second half with a 1-0 lead, Villa played more aggressively. This time, they didn't take long to increase the lead. The match only lasted four minutes, captain John McGinn who received an assist from Matty Cash changed the score to 2-0.
Forest tried to bounce back after falling behind by two goals. They put pressure and the result was a soaring kick from Morgan Gibbs-White who successfully beat Emiliano Martinez's goal in the 61st minute.
The score changed to 2-1 for Villa. Gibbs-White's goal should have been able to raise the motivation of the Forest players.
Only instead of adding a goal that tied the score, Forest's goal was again conceded. McGinn scored his second goal when he greeted Youri Tielemans' pass in the 73rd minute.
McGinn's success made the brace give Villa a 3-1 lead. There were no additional goals and the score remained until the end of the match.