Glasner haunts Emery again as Forest beat Villa

Nottingham Forest left Villa Park with their first Premier League win of the season, beating Aston Villa 2-1 through Igor Jesus's 88th-minute strike, and Oliver Glasner extended his unbeaten record against Unai Emery to eight matches.

Liam Delap put Forest ahead 45 seconds into the second half. Alysson equalised for Villa with his first goal in English football, but Villa were reduced to 10 men when left-back Ian Maatsen was forced off injured after Emery had already used all his substitutes. Jesus pounced two minutes from time to beat Aaron Wan-Bissaka to it and handed Forest their first win at Villa Park since 1994.

Villa have lost three of their opening four league games this season. It is only the fourth time they have started a top-flight campaign without a win from their first four fixtures, following 1992-93, 1997-98 and last season, 2025-26 — a campaign that ultimately ended fourth in the Premier League and Europa League glory. Should Coventry beat Brighton on Sunday, Villa will drop to the bottom of the table.

Emery pointed to the Challenge on Maatsen as the game's turning point.

Villa fear the ankle injury will sideline him for weeks, which would push new signing Matteo Ruggeri into first-team duty sooner than Emery would like. Across all competitions, Emery is yet to beat Glasner in eight meetings, a record bettered in his career only by his struggles against Jurgen Klopp.

Glasner credited his side's second-half response, and singled out Delap's finish.

Jesus, who has now scored the winner in Forest's first league victory of the campaign, thanked the travelling support.

For Emery, the underlying numbers now carry weight. A team that sits with three defeats from four and an unresolved left-back crisis heading into the next round of fixtures. For Glasner, a first win as Forest manager, and something to build from after a.