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| Brennan Johnson of Nottingham Forest in action with Ashley Young of Aston Villa during the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa at City Ground on October 10, 2022 in Nottingham, United Kingdom. |
Ashley Young’s superb strike earned Aston Villa a 1-1 draw on Monday at relegation rivals Nottingham Forest who climbed off the bottom of the Premier League.
Emmanuel Dennis put Steve Cooper’s side ahead early in the first half at the City Ground before Young bagged Villa’s equaliser with a long-range rocket.
By ending their five-match losing run, Forest moved one point above Leicester into 19th place.
But Forest have won just once in their nine league matches this season and face a huge battle to avoid relegation back to the Championship.
“It’s a step in the right direction. It’s not the ambition to be drawing at home and not having much of the ball but in the circumstances we have to accept tonight was a forward step,” Cooper said.
“You lose five games on the bounce and that is when you might see people hiding but I am seeing the opposite of that.”
“What happened last season was unbelievable but we’re in this league and it is a different sport to the Championship. If we don’t change a little bit it would be naive.”
Villa are unbeaten in their last four games, but Steven Gerrard’s team are also in relegation danger.
Villa have won only once in their last seven league matches and sit just three points above the bottom three.
“It was a fantastic strike and it was one of a few moments of quality in the final third. Ashley Young is leading by example for us at the moment and we are really pleased with him,” Gerrard said.
“I don’t think we created enough to say we deserved to win. We are close to turning draws into wins but to do that we need big players to step forward for us.”
