David Prutton predicts Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa result

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Nottingham Forest host Aston Villa at the City Ground in the Championship.

David Prutton has told Sky Sports that he is expecting Nottingham Forest to follow up their brilliant win over Arsenal in the FA Cup by beating Aston Villa at the City Ground in Aitor Karanka’s first game in charge.

Forest pulled off one of the surprises of the third round of the cup as they beat, and largely outplayed, Arsenal at the weekend, with the Championship side securing a 4-2 win to knock the holders out.

The win has overshadowed an underwhelming run of form in the league leading up to the tie, and Villa are somewhat in the same boat – but for the opposite reason.

Steve Bruce’s men went into the third round tie with Peterborough after destroying automatic-promotion-chasing Bristol City 5-0 at Villa Park, but they were then stunned at home by the League One side. And Prutton is not confident that the Villans faithful’s mood will be lifted in their next game.

“Once again the two former European champions meet in the second tier, which just goes to show the size of some of the clubs in the Sky Bet Championship these days,” he told Sky Sports while explaining why he is expecting a 1-0 win for Forest.

“Aitor Karanka will be taking charge of a Forest side that should be riding high after that victory over Arsenal in the FA Cup and I fancy them to sneak a narrow win here.”

Forest will certainly hope that they benefit from the boost that often comes when a new manager is appointed. Karanka’s men are now 11 points off the top six – and could be further adrift if Sheffield United win Friday’s derby with Sheffield Wednesday – so need to get some consistent league form going as soon as possible if they are to make a late surge for the play-offs.

And they will certainly gain a huge amount of momentum if they manage to beat one of the sides currently sat in that top six when Villa travel to the City Ground.