Aston Villa racked up a sixth win in seven matches to climb to sixth in the Premier League and pile the pressure on Steve Cooper. The question now is how will Evangelos Marinakis respond to Nottingham Forest dropping into the relegation zone? Marinakis handed Cooper a new contract in October to dispel talk of him dismissing his manager when they were bottom of the table but it is difficult to envisage the Forest owner being quite so generous this time.
The substitute Bertrand Traoré, Villa’s hero at Leicester in midweek, opened the scoring before Ollie Watkins scored his ninth goal in 11 games to double Villa’s lead in second-half stoppage time and compound the misery for Cooper, who looked on glum-faced. By the time Watkins chipped in Cooper looked on forlornly from the touchline, clasping his jacket with his hands behind his back and it was impossible not to wonder whether Marinakis will ask him to fetch his coat.
