Dean Smith: Aston Villa playing with 'swagger'

Their 3-1 win at the City Ground lifted them up to eighth in the Championship, now just two points off the play-offs.

John McGinn’s first-half double and Kortney Hause’s first for the club saw Villa record their third straight victory, after Jack Colback had opened the scoring for the hosts.

Smith said: “We looked like a team which is playing with a bit of swagger again and confidence, a bit of belief.

“I now have problems picking teams. We have players coming back from injury.

“It was a tough decision to rest Glenn Whelan but John McGinn did really well and scored two goals.

“All of a sudden we have options and the lads know they have to play for that shirt now.”

Victory over Middlesbrough on Saturday would lift Villa into the top six for the first time under Smith but the boss is staying grounded.

He said: “We’ve had a few false dawns this season and we have got to just look at the next game. It’s nice to have a bit of momentum.

“I’m watching Cheltenham at the moment, there are six furlongs to go! We just have to keep working hard.”

After Colback had put Forest ahead in the third minute, McGinn turned the game on its head by hitting two before the quarter-hour mark.

The goals doubled his tally for the season to four and Smith said: “John will be the first to tell you I get into him about shooting from distance. He has been unlucky with a few.

“But he has a great strike on him. The second one, as soon as he hit it I knew it was in. I was right behind it.

“It was a super strike and he was unlucky not to get his hat-trick at the end.”