Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest, live! Villa score twice early Score ...

This Midlands derby sees two teams back to winning ways squaring off as Aston Villa host Nottingham Forest at Villa Park on Saturday.

WATCH ASTON VILLA v NOTTINGHAM FOREST LIVE

Unai Emery’s Villa won 2-1 at Fulham last weekend and are in the top four and totally deserve to be there. After a wobble in recent weeks they were back to their clinical best against Fulham with Ollie Watkins bagging both goals and he's chasing down Erling Haaland for the Premier League Golden Boot award. Villa have Europa Conference knockout round games to juggle with PL action soon but they're in the driving seat to finish fourth and the favorites to win the Conference League. What a time to be a Villa fan.

Nottingham Forest are looking good too as they beat West Ham 2-0 at home last weekend to give themselves some breathing space above the bottom three as they're currently four points above the relegation zone. Having Taiwo Awoniyi, Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi back fit has made a huge difference as Awoniyi and Hudson-Odoi were on the scoresheet last weekend and the latter has scored in each of his last three league appearances for Forest. Nuno Espirito Santo has the added bonus of Boly, Aina and Sangare being back from AFCON duty which boosts his defensive options considerably in the final months of the season.

How to watch Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest live, stream link and start time

Kick off: 10am ET, SaturdayTV Channel: USA NetworkOnline: Stream via NBC.com

Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest live updates! - By Joe Prince-Wright

Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest score: 3-0

Watkins 4', Luiz 29', 39'

Another for Luiz as Villa are flying - Aston Villa 3-0 Nottingham Forest (39th minute)

This is getting ridiculous now. John McGinn has so much time to cut inside on his left foot and crosses for Luiz to head home. That is so poor defensively from Forest. Villa are flying but this has been really easy for Emery's side.

Luiz makes it 2-0 to rampant Villa! - Aston Villa 2-0 Nottingham Forest (29th minute)

Another brilliant goal from Villa and came down the right flan again as Cash surged into the box and cut it back for Ramsey who found Luiz to tuck home in front of the Holte End. Villa are on fire.

Bailey goes close this time

Another dangerous run from Bailey and his low shot is saved down low by Sels and goes out for a corner.

Watkins has a shot cleared off the line

A lovely Villa move falls to Watkins and his scuffed shot is going in but Niakhate clears off the line.

Villa lead less than four minutes in as Watkins taps home - Aston Villa 1-0 Nottingham Forest (4th minute)

Oh that is lovely from Leon Bailey. He's played in down the right and nutmegs the defender and picks out Watkins to tap home at the back post. Watkins now has 14 goals and 10 assists in the Premier League this season and five goals and three assists in his last five games. Incredible form. Villa Park is rocking. No PL player has been involved in more goals than Watkins this season as he's level with Mohamed Salah with 24 goal involvements.

Aston Villa lineup

Martinez; Cash, Lenglet, Pau Torres, Alex Moreno; Bailey, McGinn, Luiz, Ramsey; Tielemans; Watkins

Nottingham Forest lineup

Sels; Niakhate, Murillo, Felipe, Williams; Danilo, Dominguez; Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Elanga; Awoniyi

Aston Villa team news, focus

Emery has kept his Villa side in the Champions League hunt despite big defensive injuries popping up throughout the season. Kamara and Konsa are the latest to go down but Villa are finding a way to get it done and having Watkins back scoring, plus Leon Bailey back to his best, gives them a cutting edge.

OUT: Boubacar Kamara (torn ACL - out for season), Diego Carlos (hamstring), Emiliano Buendia (torn ACL - out for season), Tyrone Mings (torn ACL), Jhon Duran (undisclosed), Ezri Konsa (knee)

Nottingham Forest team news, focus

It will be intriguing to see how Forest get on now they're almost back to full strength. The players they have are well-suited to the style Nuno wants to play and they'll sit deep, soak up pressure and look to hit Villa on the counter. If they get it right and play the ball off Awoniyi and get Elanga and Hudson-Odoi involved they will cause Villa plenty of problems.

OUT: Chris Wood (thigh), Gonzalo Montiel (thigh), Ola Aina (unknown), Willy Boly (unknown), Ibrahim Sangare (uknown)