Nottingham Forest 1-1 Aston Villa: Hosts move off Premier League basement as Steven Gerrard's visitors frustrated

Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw at the City Ground, a result which does little to kickstart either of their seasons. Both Steven Gerrard and Steve Cooper came into this match in desperate need of a win, though the latter was at least given a measure of security after his recent contract extension. Ad Cooper made five changes to the side which lost 4-0 to Leicester last Monday, bringing in Serge Aurier, Harry Toffolo, Remo Freuler, Ryan Yates and Emmanuel Dennis for Neco Williams, Renan Lodi, Lewis O’Brien, Jesse Lingard and Taiwo Awoniyi.

Gerrard largely stuck with the same team which drew 0-0 with Leeds, though Emi Buendia and Matty Cash came in for Leon Bailey and Ludwig Augustinsson. TransfersGerrard running out of time at Aston Villa — Paper RoundA DAY AGO The first half set the tone for a feisty affair, with Aurier, Steve Cook and Ezri Konsa all booked for robust challenges. Dennis opened the scoring for Forest on the 15-minute mark after nodding in a searching free kick delivery from Morgan Gibbs-White, but Ashley Young equalised soon afterwards with a powerful drive from long range.

With 16 fouls in total before the break – seven for Forest and nine for Villa – both sides struggled to find their rhythm. They picked up where they had left off after the restart, John McGinn earning a yellow card for steaming in on Brennan Johnson. Moments earlier, McGinn had almost laid on another goal after threading through Jacob Ramsey.