This summer there were a couple of significant pieces of the puzzle for Oliver Glasner to put into place at Nottingham Forest. The first was a mobile striker to lead the line and the other was a right wing-back to fit his favoured 3-4-3 system. Enter Liam Delap and Daniel Muñoz, both of whom had a big say in Forest’s first win under Glasner, though the match-winner was one of the old brigade in Igor Jesus.

Delap registered his first Forest goal in style, a powerful shot from 25 yards and Muñoz was involved in the slick move that culminated in Igor Jesus reading Morgan Gibbs-White’s exquisite backheel to down Aston Villa, who remain winless in the Premier League.

That the winner came down Villa’s left made things even more painful from their perspective. For the final 12 minutes, including six in stoppage time, John McGinn was operating as an emergency left-back after Ian Maatsen’s injury reduced them to 10 men. By the 63rd minute, after sending on Johan Manzambi and Ibrahim Mbaye for their Villa debuts, Unai Emery had used all five substitutions; Pau Torres was forced off with a hamstring problem midway through the first half that could sideline him for a month and Tammy Abraham and Alysson, who pulled Villa level, arrived at the interval. Abraham replaced Nicolas Jackson, who Emery felt was at risk of a second yellow card.

Those changes left Villa unable to replace Maatsen after the full-back was cynically fouled by James McAtee, whom Emery felt should have been sent off for the challenge. Emery said the video assistant referee, Timothy Wood, should have flagged the incident to the referee, Andy Madley. “It’s a clear tackle behind the player and, for me, it should be a red card,” he said. “But it’s not an excuse for how we played the second half. We played so poorly and this is my responsibility.”

For the second successive season, Villa are winless in their opening four league matches and for so long it seemed they would again fail to score. Alysson’s header from McGinn’s dainty cross after a short corner meant they were spared ruminating on the moment Matz Sels twice denied Victor Lindelöf. In between Sels repelling Lindelöf with his feet and taking his side-foot shot to the face, Murillo smacked an attempted clearance against his own post. Lindelöf has scored one goal in almost six years, his last in November 2023.

Villa were rattled by Forest seizing the lead 45 seconds into the second half. Murillo dispossessed Emiliano Buendía, snapping into a challenge after Boubacar Kamara’s flick and then Delap jinked clear of Ross Barkley. Delap’s next couple of touches took the ball out of his feet, dribbling diagonally across the pitch before sending an unerring right-foot shot into the Villa net.

Emery sent on Mbaye and Manzambi in place of Buendía and Barkley but their arrivals did not bring instant success. Instead Delap thought he had doubled his and Forest’s tally, only for the offside flag and a VAR check to deny him. A few moments earlier Tyrone Mings, a first-half substitute for the injured Torres, made a desperate block to thwart Dan Ndoye after superb holdup play by Delap.

Forest, without key defenders Nikola Milenkovic and Jair Cunha through injury, had been readying Igor Jesus when Villa scored, but the striker still arrived to replace Ndoye, who, after a first-half collision with Maatsen, was left with what Glasner described as “a nose like a boxer in the 12th round”. At that point, Villa Park was primed for a grandstand finale, but Forest also roused. Zion Suzuki was twice called into action, his best save clambering down to his right to keep out a Xaver Schlager header, but then Igor Jesus popped up with the winner.

Muñoz exchanged passes with Gibbs-White, who eliminated three Villa defenders with a sumptuous flick before Igor Jesus coolly passed the ball past Suzuki to maintain Glasner’s pristine record against Emery. Glasner has not lost in eight meetings against Emery, winning six and drawing two.

“I spoke to him before the game and it’s still 5-2 for him, five European trophies to two,” said Forest’s head coach. “So I said to myself: ‘Oliver Glasner, stay humble.’ And this is how I will stay. The players deserve all the credit, because they did so well, and our fans deserve credit because they supported us, and so now we all go back and will have a lovely Saturday evening.”