Igor Jesus Delivers Historic Win for Nottingham Forest at Villa Park
Igor Jesus needed one touch. One late, ruthless touch to rip up 32 years of frustration and hand Nottingham Forest a statement win at Villa Park.
With two minutes left, the substitute reacted quickest in a crowded box, stabbing home to seal a 2-1 victory and deliver Oliver Glasner his first win as Forest head coach. Villa, still without a Premier League victory this season, were left staring at another bleak afternoon and a restless fanbase.
Forest end a 32-year wait
Forest had not won a league game at Villa Park since the early 1990s. They arrived under a new manager, with a new £50m striker, and a point to prove after encouraging draws against Liverpool and Tottenham.
The intent showed early. Liam Delap, still searching for rhythm after his big-money move from Chelsea, supplied it. His first goal since January, and his first in Forest colours, came as a release as much as a reward. He struck to cap a strong Forest spell and underline the visitors’ sharpness in transition.
Villa, by contrast, never truly settled. Their first Premier League goal of the season, from Alysson, felt like a jolt rather than a turning point.
Villa’s stuttering rebuild
Unai Emery has asked for patience. Nights like this will stretch it.
There were flashes. Victor Lindelof almost gave Villa an early lead when his effort took a deflection off Murillo, forcing Sels into a sharp save that pushed the ball on to the post. Murillo’s hurried clearance went straight back to Lindelof, whose instinctive follow-up was again smothered by the Forest goalkeeper.
That sequence, though, was the exception. Villa’s attacks were sporadic, their structure loose, their passing laboured. The home crowd saw a team still trying to remember its lines.
Emery’s decision at half-time told its own story. Off went £65m record signing Nicolas Jackson, on came Tammy Abraham – a striker the manager had been prepared to let leave this summer. It felt less like rotation and more like a search for answers.
Alysson’s equaliser briefly offered one. The goal, Villa’s first in the league this season, dragged them level and seemed to tilt the game back towards the hosts. For a few minutes, Villa finally played with the urgency the situation demanded.
Then the momentum slipped away again.
Forest regained control, pressed higher, and won more duels. The visitors looked the side with a clear plan; Villa looked like a side still flicking through the manual of Emery’s intricate demands. A 3-2 Champions League win at Club Brugge had hinted at lift-off. Domestically, the engine is still spluttering.
Glasner’s hold over Emery
There is a pattern here. Since Oliver Glasner arrived in English football with Crystal Palace in February 2024, Emery has not beaten him.
Glasner’s Palace dismantled Villa 3-0 at Villa Park at the start of last season. Different club, same coach, same outcome: the Austrian again walked away from this ground with three deserved points, even if the scoreline was tighter this time.
Forest under Glasner already look organised, aggressive, and increasingly confident. After those hard-earned draws against Liverpool and Tottenham, this first league win of the campaign feels like a natural next step rather than a freak result.
For Villa, it feels like something else entirely. Another warning that the summer rebuild and the manager’s meticulous demands still have not clicked. Emery can point to upheaval, to new faces and complex instructions. The table, and the mood, will not wait forever.
Forest leave Villa Park with history rewritten and belief growing. Villa leave still searching for their first Premier League win – and for a version of this team that finally resembles Emery’s meticulous vision.
