Nottingham Forest Ends 32-Year Wait at Villa Park with Late Winner
Igor Jesus needed one touch. One sharp jab of a boot, two minutes from time, to rip up 32 years of frustration and hand Nottingham Forest a fully-earned win at Villa Park – and Oliver Glasner his first victory in charge.
The substitute pounced in the 88th minute, stabbing home after Aston Villa failed to clear, and sent the away end into chaos. Forest had been the better side for long spells. The scoreline finally caught up with the performance.
Forest seize their moment
Glasner’s team arrived with a point to prove and a new £50m forward to showcase. Liam Delap did not waste his chance.
The striker, signed from Chelsea in the summer, claimed his first Forest goal – and his first since January – to open the scoring, a timely reminder of why the club invested so heavily in him. It settled Forest and unsettled Villa, who never truly looked comfortable.
Unai Emery’s side did have the game’s first big opening. Victor Lindelof’s effort took a wicked deflection off Murillo, forcing Sels into a smart save as the ball clipped the post. Murillo’s clearance fell straight back to Lindelof, whose instinctive follow-up was again blocked by the Forest goalkeeper.
That flurry felt like a warning of what Villa could do. It turned out to be an exception. The hosts rarely stitched together anything as threatening again for much of the contest.
Villa’s struggle, Forest’s control
Emery reacted at half-time with a bold call. Off came £65m record signing Nicolas Jackson, on came Tammy Abraham – a striker Villa were prepared to move on in the summer. It was a clear signal: this remodelled side is nowhere near settled.
The change did little to alter the rhythm. Forest bossed the second half, snapping into challenges, controlling territory, and moving the ball with more conviction. Villa, by contrast, looked disjointed, the patterns Emery demands not yet embedded.
The pressure should have brought a second Forest goal. Instead, the twist came at the other end.
Almost against the run of play, Alysson dragged Villa level, scoring their first Premier League goal of the season. It briefly lifted the stadium and hinted at a late surge. For a few minutes, Forest looked as if they might pay for their wastefulness.
Then came Jesus.
As the game crept towards stoppage time, Forest pushed again. The ball broke in the box, Villa hesitated, and Jesus reacted quickest, stabbing home the winner that their performance deserved.
Emery under scrutiny, Glasner in control
Emery has preached patience after a turbulent summer, with new faces, new structures and a demanding tactical blueprint to absorb. That patience will be stretched by this display.
The 3-2 Champions League win at Club Brugge had raised hopes that Villa were beginning to click. This was a step backwards: slow, uncertain, and second best to a Forest side still learning under their own new head coach.
Glasner, though, is starting to leave a clear mark. After dogged draws against Liverpool and Tottenham, Forest finally turned promise into three points. The win will inject belief into a squad adapting to his detailed, methodical approach.
And there is another subplot. Emery still cannot solve the Glasner puzzle.
Since the Austrian arrived in the Premier League with Crystal Palace in February 2024, Emery has yet to beat him. Glasner’s Palace side won 3-0 at Villa Park at the start of last season. Different club, same outcome: the visitors again walked away with the points, and again on merit.
Forest leave Birmingham with their first win of the campaign, their first victory at Villa Park in more than three decades, and a manager whose ideas are beginning to bite. Villa leave with questions, a misfiring record signing, and a project that suddenly looks a lot less comfortable under the glare.
