There haven’t been too many occasions this season in which blame could’ve been attributed to a sleeping Nottingham Forest defence, but they were caught napping at Villa Park inside 15 minutes.
A quickly taken Villa free-kick saw Youri Tielemans float a perfect ball in behind for Morgan Rogers to gather and fire through the legs of Matz Sels.
Forest were at sixes and sevens defensively in the opening stages, and a ruthless Villa doubled their advantage just two minutes later when Ian Maatsen’s wicked delivery was turned in at the far post by the unmarked Donyell Malen.
Forest were uncharacteristically poor in the opening stages, but they showed a glimpse of what they’re about midway through the half when a mazy Anthony Elanga run, which started inside his own half, ended with him flashing an effort narrowly wide of the post, before Callum Hudson-Odoi wasted a similar opportunity just moments later.
It took Forest until the second half to ask more questions of Villa.
Neco Williams was the first to try his luck for Forest after the break, but when space opened up for him in the area, he curled wide, and minutes later, Hudson-Odoi repeated the feat in almost identical circumstances.
That was only a temporary reprieve for Villa, who soon saw their advantage cut in half when half-time substitute Jota Silva’s deflected effort nestled into the bottom corner.
The momentum of the game had changed at that point, and Forest almost drew level a matter of minutes later when Elliot Anderson’s effort curled inches away from the far corner.
Unai Emery made a triple substitute in an attempt to stem Forest’s flow, but it was one of his mainstays, Rogers, who ought to have re-established their two-goal cushion. However, he was denied by the legs of Sels after some impressive work to leave two Forest defenders for dead.
Those changes shored Villa up, but they still offered up a gilt-edged chance to Williams, who flashed an effort across the face of goal that had Emiliano Martinez worried.
Murillo crashed an effort against the crossbar in stoppage time, but Forest were unable to deny Villa a seventh successive victory in all competitions, momentum which could prove crucial ahead of their crunch midweek Champions League clash away to PSG.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Youri Tielemans (Aston Villa)