Nuno Espírito Santo encouraged supporters to raise a beer to this “special” victory after late goals from Nikola Milenkovic and Anthony Elanga enabled Nottingham Forest to win this battle of the former European Cup winners and climb into the Champions League places.
Forest have now matched their best start to a season since 1994‑95 as they came from behind after Jhon Durán’s third goal in a week for Aston Villa, who are winless in the last five league games that have followed Champions League matches. “It’s not an excuse,” Unai Emery, the Villa manager, said. “It’s another competition. Last year we played as well in the midweek [reaching the Europa Conference League final] and we got fourth [in the Premier League].”