Aston Villa beat Nottingham Forest in 4-2 thriller

Birmingham World reporter Charlie Haffenden's post-match thoughts as Aston Villa beat Nottingham Forest 4-2 in the Premier League.

Transcript

00:00 Aston Villa have boosted their Champions League hopes massively today with a 4-2 win over

00:05 Nottingham Forest here at Villa Park.

00:07 Moving five points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur who still have a game to play and eight points

00:12 clear of Manchester United who have just been defeated 2-1 by Fulham at Old Trafford.

00:16 A huge goal there in the 97th minute for Fulham scored by Alex Iwobi means that Villa do move

00:22 by eight points clear of sixth place Man Utd which is the crucial one if five places do

00:26 end up getting Champions League football.

00:29 We get out Villa Park though a six goal thriller, 3-0 it should have been going into half time.

00:34 Teiwo Owaniyi's goal on the verge of the break put a bit of pressure on Villa and also Morgan

00:41 Gibbs-White just after the break scoring to make it 3-2.

00:44 You're thinking oh dear could Villa be throwing this one away but Leon Bailey made it 4-2 a

00:48 little later in the second half to settle the nerves a little bit and Unai Emery's team

00:53 from that point on the confidence to go on for a huge three points in the Champions League

00:57 battle.

00:58 They started off brilliantly, Ollie Watkins in the fourth minute scoring from a Leon Bailey

01:02 cross.

01:03 The credit has to go for Bailey really, some great skill and nutmeg as well before playing

01:07 it across to Watkins to score and make it 1-0 in just the fourth minute.

01:11 Then Douglas Luiz with a double in the first half, his eighth and ninth goals of the season,

01:16 his seventh and eighth here at home in the Premier League this campaign.

01:21 The first one was a really good finish, first time after a Jacob Ramsey cut back into the

01:25 top corner and then the second one was a lovely header cushioned into the top right-hand corner

01:30 after a cross into the area by John McGinn, that was a really good ball in.

01:35 And then the last goal as I mentioned for Leon Bailey, it was Uri Tielemans playing

01:39 in, Ollie Watkins in behind, his shot ricocheted off Forrest's goalkeeper Matt Sells and into

01:44 the path of Bailey for an easy tap in to make it 4-2.

01:48 Just catching my breath really after that one, what a game here at Villa Park.

01:51 You were thinking as I said at the start of the second half could Forrest be getting back

01:55 into this one for a famous comeback but no, it was Villa who scored again and it's a great

01:59 4-2 win.

02:00 Villa now just need to carry on the momentum and stay ahead of United and Tottenham.

02:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]