Unai Emery has namechecked Morgan Gibbs-White, Danilo, Nicolas Dominguez and Taiwo Awoniyi as Nottingham Forest’s key players ahead of Saturday’s Premier League trip to Aston Villa.
Relegation-threatened Forest produced one of their best performances of the campaign when they defeated Aston Villa 2-0 at the City Ground back in November, Ola Aina and the now-departed Orel Mangala scoring either side of half-time.
Perhaps worryingly for Villa supporters, Unai Emery feels that their fellow former European Champions have reached a ‘new level’ since then. The East Midlands outfit have lost only four out of 12 games under Nuno Espirito Santo, defeating Manchester United and Newcastle along the way.
And if Aston Villa are to stop Forest from doing the double over them, the Champions League-chasers will need to keep very close tabs on four players Emery feels are key to Nuno’s gameplan.
Aston Villa face Midland rivals Nottingham Forest
“I respect (Forest),” Emery tells the Birmingham Mail. “I expect a lot of them, their coach, players.
“They are trying to have a good structure defensively and good transition from Gibbs-White, (with the) wingers and their striker. They are trying to control the game with good combinations. Tomorrow will be very difficult. My respect is for their players (and) coach. They are tactically very strong.”
Gibbs-White, one of the Premier League’s most dangerous ‘number tens’, was a constant menace in last week’s 2-0 win over West Ham. Villa’s hopes of containing him will not be made any easier by the loss of Boubacar Kamara, Emery’s first-choice defensive midfielder.
Emery hails four Forest dangermen
“Gibbs-White is a very good player. He is very important to them because he has good tempo, good passes and he is very intelligent. It’s not easy to stop him,” Emery adds, while also hailing the all-action duo of Danilo and Dominguez, as well as the powerhouse striker Awoniyi.
“They play a high press and it’s very difficult to break their press, If we do well they might play a low block but they try to connect with Awoniyi and the wingers. Dominguez and Danilo, (Nuno has) players to play different tactics for 90 minutes.”
Villa are fourth as things stand but cannot afford to drop further points with Manchester United – who host Fulham at Old Trafford – lurking. Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, will be hoping to widen the four-point gap between themselves and the relegation zone.
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