Aston Villa 2 Nottingham Forest 0 - Report

In a match of few chances, substitute Traore opened the scoring three minutes into the second half following a mistake by Jonjo Shelvey.

Watkins then sealed Villa’s sixth win in seven matches when he chipped home his ninth goal in 11 games with virtually the last kick.

The visitors, now winless in nine matches, failed to seriously trouble home keeper Emi Martinez as Villa saw out the victory.

Analysis

Martinez has now kept a clean sheet in three straight home matches and conceded just twice in the last seven matches.

Villa have won six of them and are now firmly in the race for European football, with seven of the remaining eight matches to play against fellow contenders.

With 11 wins in 17 matches since Unai Emery replaced Steven Gerrard, you would not bet against them.

This performance, in front of the watching Prince William, was some way for their best but they were too strong for a Forest team who had few ideas once Traore, who replaced the injured Leon Bailey in the first half, had broken the deadlock.

Watkins, full of confidence after his recent scoring streak, sounded an early warning to the visitors when he sent a low drive across the face of goal inside the opening 90 seconds.

But after that, Villa found it tough going with the visitors content to sit deep and challenge the hosts to find a way through the massed defences.

Bailey was unable to connect with a chipped Alex Moreno cross after good work from the Spaniard down the left but then created the best chance of the opening half when he latched on to Ashley Young’s chipped pass and crossed for Watkins, who was unable to convert from close range.

That was Bailey’s last action as he appeared to pull his hamstring in the act of crossing and was replaced by Bertrand Traore.

Forest, who missed a good chance of their own when Morgan Gibbs-White failed to connect with Brennan Johnson’s pull back, were also forced into an early change as Remo Freuler replaced Cheik Kouyate.

Villa worked their best opening so far in first half stoppage time but Traore was unable to keep his effort down after meeting Moreno’s cross at the far post.

The finish summed up a less than spectacular start for the winger after coming off the bench but within three minutes of the restart, he had opened the scoring.

Young set Traore racing to the byline with a chipped ball down the wing and though his low cross was pushed out by Navas, he reaped the rewards of continuing his run as Shelvey inexplicably passed straight to him. Just as at Leicester four days previously, the first time finish into the corner gave the keeper no chance.

Forest looked for an instant reply and Morgan Gibbs-White saw an effort deflected over, before Danilo shot too close to Martinez having won possession in the Villa half.

The hosts were still finding chances hard to come by and Ramsey wasted a golden opportunity on the break when he tried to beat a man and lose possession with three team-mates running inside awaiting the pass.

Buendia was one of those and he was the next man to go close when he sent a first-time volley a foot or so wide from Moreno’s pull back.

Villa looked content to sit on the lead and Forest, when rare openings did arrive, were wasteful, Danilo a big culprit when he shot hurriedly over from distance.

In the end the hosts were seeing it out comfortably with Watkins’ late goal, chipping over Navas at close range, merely the icing on the cake.

Key Moments

48 GOAL Bertrand Traore bags his second in a week to put Villa ahead, pouncing on Jonjo Shelvey’s poor clearance and firing into the bottom corner.

90+5 GOAL Ollie Watkins rounds off the win when he chips over Keylor Navas from close range.

Teams

Villa (4-4-2): Martinez, Young, Konsa, Mings, Moreno, Ramsey, McGinn, Luiz, Buendia (Dendoncker 75), Bailey (Traore 29), Watkins Subs not used: Carlos, Chambers, Duran, Digne, Revan, Sinisalo (gk), Olsen (gk).

Forest (3-5-1-1): Navas, Worrall (Mangala 65), Felipe, Niakhate, Williams, Shelvey (Awoniyi 65), Kouyate (Freuler 32), Danilo (Ayew 78), Toffolo, Gibbs-White, Johnson Subs not used: Lingard, Surridge, Dennis, McKenna, Hennessey (gk).