Igor Jesus's 88th-Minute Winner Gives Oliver Glasner His First Nottingham Forest Win: Aston Villa 1-2 Forest

Nottingham Forest needed a minute of the second half to go ahead at Villa Park, and needed an 88th-minute winner to leave with all three points, but Oliver Glasner has his first win as Forest head coach. Aston Villa, still searching for their first victory of the season, got a goal at last — just not enough of them.

Villa finally score, but Forest have the last word

Liam Delap needed only 46 seconds of the second half to put Forest ahead, latching onto an early break before Villa had settled back into their shape. Villa's response came from Alysson, who levelled in the 74th minute — the club's first Premier League goal of the season, after three straight blanks to open the campaign. The lead lasted 14 minutes. Igor Jesus struck in the 88th minute to restore Forest's lead and settle the contest, sending the away end into celebration and leaving Unai Emery still without a win against Glasner in eight attempts.

Forest dominated the chances

Villa had the corners and, marginally, the ball, but Forest more than trebled them on shots and out-created them by a wide margin on expected goals — 2.28 to 0.82 — a scoreline that undersold how one-sided long stretches of the afternoon were.

Different roads into matchweek 4

Villa arrived off a run of one win in five across all competitions: back-to-back Premier League defeats to Brighton (0-4) and Arsenal (0-1), a 1-2 loss to PSG in the Super Cup, and a goalless draw at Hull City that kept them without a Premier League goal all season. The one bright spot was midweek in the Champions League, a 3-2 away win at Club Brugge that put Unai Emery's side up and running in Europe even as the league form stalled. Forest's build-up was steadier if unspectacular: an opening 0-1 loss to Leeds United, then back-to-back 0-0 and 2-2 draws against Tottenham and Liverpool, a run that had kept them unbeaten in three but still without a win under Glasner before this trip to Villa Park.

Where this leaves both sides

Coming into this round, Aston Villa sat 18th with a single point from three matches, without a goal scored and five conceded — level on record with Tottenham Hotspur at the bottom of the table. Nottingham Forest were 16th on two points from three games, two scored and three conceded. Glasner's first win as Forest boss, at Emery's expense, is exactly the kind of result both clubs' September has been short of.

What followed at both clubs

Villa's goal in this game did not turn into results straight away. It took until matchweek 5 for Unai Emery's side to get their first Premier League win of the season, a 3-2 comeback away at Tottenham Hotspur that lifted them to 16th in the table, up from the 18th they occupied straight after this defeat to Forest. Forest's win at Villa Park did not carry over either: Oliver Glasner's side followed it with a first defeat under him, beaten 0-1 at home by Coventry City seven days later. That result meant the win over Villa remained Forest's only Premier League victory of the season through five rounds.

The table after matchweek 5

By the time both clubs' next results were in, Nottingham Forest had moved up to 13th with five points from five games — one win, two draws and two losses, four goals scored and five conceded. Aston Villa sat 16th on four points, with the same single win but three defeats and nine goals already let in. This remains the only meeting between the two clubs in Guriball's Premier League coverage so far this season, with Forest still holding both the scoreline from Villa Park and the head-to-head.