Aston Villa climbed into the Premier League’s top six as early goals from Morgan Rogers and Donyell Malen secured a 2-1 win over third-placed Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

A seventh consecutive victory for Unai Emery’s men in all competitions sets up Villa perfectly for Wednesday’s trip to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

Villa’s hot streak has also brought them well into the race for Champions League football next season.

A top-five Premier League finish will almost certainly be enough to qualify thanks to the strong performance of English sides in European competition this season.

Villa sit below fifth-placed Manchester City only on goal difference and moved to within one point of Chelsea in fourth.

“We enjoy competing in the Champions League and the FA Cup, but the Premier League is the most important because it is through the league that we can reach our objective for the next season,” said Emery.

Forest’s cushion over Villa is reduced to six points, leaving Nuno Espirito Santo’s side plenty of work to do in their final seven games to secure a return to European football’s elite level for the first time since they were holders in 1980.

Emery had one eye on the trip to his former club in midweek as he made eight changes from Wednesday’s impressive 3-0 win at Brighton.

The Spaniard’s decision to inject fresh legs was justified in a flying start as the home side led 2-0 inside 15 minutes.

Rogers’ deft touch to control Youri Tielemans’ ball over the top teed up the England international to stroke home his 13th goal of a breakout season.

Malen has been overshadowed by the impact made by fellow January arrivals Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio.

However, the Dutch international now has two goals in two games after turning in Ian Maatsen’s enticing low delivery.

Forest looked fatigued in holding off Manchester United on Tuesday just three days after being forced to extra-time and penalties by Brighton to book their place in the FA Cup semi-finals.

Villa and Forest could meet again in the FA Cup final should they win their last-four ties later this month.

The visitors took 45 minutes to find their feet but came out a different side in the second half.

“Normally we always start really well and the big lesson was that we can’t start a game as bad as we did today,” said Nuno.

The Forest boss’ decision to sacrifice the in-form Anthony Elanga for Jota Silva at the break proved an inspired change.

Villa failed to heed the Forest warnings as Neco Williams and Callum Hudson-Odoi fired just wide at the start of the second period.

Silva spun on to Williams’ cross on 56 minutes to halve the arrears.

Elliott Anderson was then inches away from an equaliser as the former Newcastle midfielder’s effort swerved off target.

Emery turned to his talented bench to try and turn the tide as Rashford, Jacob Ramsey and Boubacar Kamara came on just after the hour mark.

But it was Rogers who had the biggest chance to make the three points safe when he failed to beat Matz Sels one-on-one.

That reprieve gave Forest life and they could have snatched a point when Williams fired across goal before Murillo’s long-range effort hit the bar in stoppage time.

AFP

Barcelona failed to break down a frantic Real Betis defence as they were held to a 1-1 draw in La Liga on Saturday but still gained ground on Real Madrid who earlier conceded deep into added time to lose 2-1 at home to Valencia.

Barcelona moved four points ahead of Real Madrid atop La Liga. Both teams face Champions League first-leg ties this week, Real visit Arsenal on Tuesday and Barcelona play in Dortmund the following evening.

Barcelona cut open Betis in the seventh minute and Gavi slid the ball past goalkeeper Adrian from inside the six-yard box.

But the hosts were unable to turn a series of lively attacks into goals. Instead the visitors hit back after 16 minutes when centreback Natan Souza escaped the clutches of his defender to head home a Giovani Lo Celso corner.

Barcelona besieged the Betis goal in the second half but were denied by a combination of dogged defending, strong goalkeeping from Adrian and some agonising near misses.

Wojciech Szczesny did not have to make a save until the 88th minute when he turned away a long-range drive by Natan.

With Betis playing for time, Barcelona did not leave themselves exposed to a late counter-attack as they played out a draw that bolstered their lead at the top.

“If we had won we would be further clear, but in the end it’s football,” Gavi told Movistar. “The draw leaves a bitter taste, because we were unable to take advantage of the chances we had.”

The draw lifted Betis to fifth.

– ‘Lots of chances’ –
“La Liga is more complicated, but we have to fight until the last game,” said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.

“They didn’t need to do much to score two goals,” said Ancelotti. “We took risks at the end and found ourselves hit on the counter-attack.

“We’ve had deserved defeats this season, but I don’t think we lacked attitude today,” he added. “It’s not a deserved defeat. We created lots of chances but lacked a little effectiveness.”

The victory lifted Valencia to 15th, seven points clear of the bottom three.

Real had an early chance to take control when Valencia’s Cesar Tarrega was adjudged to have fouled Kylian Mbappe in the penalty area, but Giorgi Mamardashvili saved a weak spot-kick from Vinicius Junior.

It was the Brazilian’s second consecutive miss from the spot for Real, after he wasted a Champions League penalty against Atletico Madrid.

Within a minute Valencia went up the other end and won a corner. From it Mouctar Diakhaby outjumped Antonio Rudiger and rocketed home a header.

Real levelled after 50 minutes when Vinicius tapped over the line in a scramble following a Real corner. It was his 104th goal for Los Blancos, matching Brazilian compatriot Ronaldo.

Real gave a lacklustre performance, nevertheless, Mbappe carved out enough chances to win, but wasted opportunities in the 36th, 37th, 48th, 49th and 68th minutes.

Valencia’s Georgian goalkeeper Mamardashvili was in imperious form keeping his team in the game until Duro delivered his winner.

Valencia stunned the dominant hosts deep into injury time when a slick countering-attacking move was emphatically finished by Duro from Rafa Mir’s cross.

Ancelotti started third-choice ‘keeper Fran Gonzalez following injuries to Thibaut Courtois and Andriy Lunin, although the Ukrainian was fit enough to be named on the bench.

In addition to Arsenal, Ancelotti has to focus on the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona on April 26 in Seville.

“The match against Barca in the Copa del Rey will be different; they’ll attack more, and we’ll have to be better at the back and be effective up front,” the Italian said.

AFP