Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa: A moment of madness from Lucas Digne in a tense situation allowed Chris Wood to put the hosts ahead ahead of next week’s return leg.
Chris Wood was the hero for Nottingham Forest against Aston Villa (Image: Naomi Baker/UEFA)
For once, there was no doubt about handball penalties in European competitions. And there was certainly no doubt about the kick itself.
Chris Wood produced the most incredible conversion to give Nottingham Forest the lead over Aston Villa, with Unai Emery’s side leveling for long. Yes, VAR had to be involved for the decisive penalty to be awarded, but it was the right decision and means Forest’s great spell under Vitor Pereira continues in domestic and European competitions.
Although Forest’s form in recent weeks has given them a slight advantage over Villa, there is a reason for the 19-point difference between the two teams in the Premier League.
There is a widespread misconception that this means Villa’s squad are a little above their weight. Maybe that’s what Emery likes. But the truth is that fifth place in the Premier League and the top four in Europe’s secondary club competitions is where a team of this quality and depth should be.
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However, the disparity between the classes could narrow with time, and a typical Premier League battle was expected. Unfortunately, that’s the result we got. There were a lot of passes, a relatively high pace, a lot of mistakes and a strange mix of studs, but Elliott Anderson was lucky to avoid being caught on just one awkward sliding through to Ollie Watkins. However, the quality and ingenuity were minimal.
Anderson’s deft chip was at the heart of a decent move that ended with Emi Martínez taking two tries to deny Igor Jesus’ volley, but that was the only vaguely memorable moment of the Woods menace in the first half.
Villa weren’t very creative, with Stefan Ortega only being tasked with making a few routine saves.
It was a heated game, but the fact that Anderson’s tackle on Watkins was the only halftime topic worth any real discussion told you all you needed to know.
Wood scored a second-half penalty to seal Aston Villa’s victory (Image: Andrew Kearns/CameraSport)
Referee João Pinheiro was unaware of the danger of Anderson’s challenge, but he also did not care to add a second to stoppage time.
Of course, that was only the first quarter of the tie, and it’s understandable that there was a certain level of caution that went into this effort. But if there was one player on the park who could bring poise and quality to the scene, it was Anderson.
He may have been a little lucky to avoid being blamed by VAR, but he was a dominant midfielder in this game.
Forest could remain in the Premier League and compete in the Champions League, with Anderson still out. And of course he will also play a role in England’s World Cup campaign. It remains to be seen whether he will join Watkins, but Villa’s striker’s movement looks as good as ever. And given his recent performance, you would have expected him to find a way past Ortega if given a good chance with an hour left.
Following his previous actions, he directed his efforts straight at the forest guard.
But if Europe’s lower quality teams need a breakthrough, they can always rely on the handball cry. And sure enough, Digne raised his hand on Omari Hutchinson’s hooked cross, VAR intervened and Wood was awarded a penalty.
It was an outstanding conversion and Hutchinson deserves credit for keeping the ball in play, but it was still a hammer blow for Villa.
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