Ashley Young’s brilliant strike has helped Aston Villa to notch up a 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest in their last English Premier League fixture.
Earlier Nottingham Forest took the lead through Nigerian international Ammanual Dennis but failed to hold it.
With this draw, Nottingham has finally put a stop to their five-match losing streak and has now moved to the nineteenth place with five points from nine matches.
Meanwhile, Ashley Young’s goal helped Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa to remain at the sixteen place. Villa now have nine points from nine matches. With another draw, the pressure on the former Liverpool midfielder Gerrard will continue.
Ashley Young scores in Aston Villa’s draw
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The game had a frantic start with both teams maintaining a high tempo and looking to score the opening goal.
And finally, it was Nottingham Forest who succeeded to take the lead when a defensive mistake from Aston Villa helped Emmanuel Dennis to take advantage of a Morgan Gibbs-White freekick.
However, within seven minutes, Aston Villa’s Ashley Young brought them on level terms. The defender scored a blinder from the outside of the box which found the bottom corner of the net.
With this goal, Ashley Young became the second oldest player to score a goal in the English Premier League. He is now only behind Danish custodian Peter Schmeichel who was just a few months older when scored in 2001.
Both teams failed to create anything more in the first half and went to the break with a scoreline of 1-1. After the restart, English striker Ollie Watkins gave the lead to Aston Villa or so it was thought. The goal was cancelled because of an offside infringement.
Villa later was unlucky to not get a penalty when Nottingham’s Ryan yates caught Ezri Konsa’s foot in the box. Despite Nottingham’s bright start, they failed to create anything in the second half which will only make their manager Steve Cooper unhappy.
Earlier in the week, Cooper was given an extension contract by the Nottingham management which will keep him at the club till 2025.
Finally, both teams failed to score any more goals and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
What’s Next?
Steven Gerrard’s team will now face Chelsea in their next match. This will be another tough test for Villa as they look to generate some momentum.
Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest will face another relegation-threatened team Wolverhampton in their next match.