Unai Emery believes that Marcus Rashford gradually understands what is required of him after he has reached the score form for Aston Villa.
Rashford scored twice in Villa's FA Cup victory on Preston North End and followed that brace with the opener in a 3-0 Premier League victory on Brighton on Tuesday.
That strike was his first league objective for his new club, which was on loan from Manchester United in February.
And Emery thinks Rashford shows a better understanding of what he should do to lead Villa's attack.
“This is the challenge he has. He gets better and feels confident and understands our requirements,” said Emery.
“We try to get the best out of the players. His qualities and experience are very important in our team. Every match he plays for us is very important.
“We try to get stronger than during the season in the Premier League. We have to try to get a balance now.
“The players were dedicated to the requirements we have and we can be proud of how the players work today.”
Since 2 February, when Villa Rashford signed, he has contributed directly to seven goals in all competitions.
At the same time, only four Premier League players have contributed to more goals.
Rashford will take its strong form on Saturday in an intriguing collision with Nottingham Forest.
The Nuno Espirito Santo team flies high in third place and has a fantastic opportunity to obtain the qualification of Champions League.
The Supercomputer of Opta does indeed give Bos a 52.6% chance to finish third, and a 24.4% probability to complete the season in fourth place, although fifth place is probably enough to seal a place in the Champions League of next season.
However, Nuno will be without full-back Ola Aina, who was injured in Tuesday's victory over Man United.
“We have already done the scan and it will be gone for a while. He will not be available,” said Nuno.
“[We will miss] His qualities, talent, the routines he already has with his teammates. We're going to miss him. “
A thunderous victory for in-form Villa, which jumped through Brighton and moving to the seventh in the Premier League.
The men of Unai Emery have won back-to-back Premier League-games for the first time since August.#Briavl pic.twitter.com/d5w3iyky2k
– Opta Analyst (@Optaanalyst) 2 April 2025
Players to watch
Aston Villa – Marcus Rashford
In all competitions, Rashford has been involved in seven goals in seven performances against Forest.
All these target contributions have come while he played for Man United (three goals, four assists).
Nottingham Forest – Chris Wood
Wood scored three goals in Six Premier League Start against Villa, all of whom came while playing for Burnley between 2019 and 2021.
This season he has a hand in 10 goals for Forest (eight goals, two assists) with only Bryan Roy (six goals, five assists in 1994-95) and Stan Collymore (nine goals, four assists in 1994-95) scoring and helping more in a season.
Match forecast: Aston Villa Win
Forest's Away Win Premier League Win percentage This season is 54%, the first time it was more than 50% in a top flight season (P15 W8). Their road goals per game ratio (1.73) are their third best in a top season, behind 1909-10 (1.84) and 1988-89 (1.74).
Villa, however, has been unbeaten in their last 14 Home Premier League matches (W7 D7) since he lost to Arsenal in August.
Emery has already had a 17-game undefeated run in Villa Park between March and December 2023 and could be the first Villa manager since Ron Saunders in 1976-77 (18) and 1980-81 (15) with two separate runs of 15 unbeaten top-flight home games.
But after their 2-1 victory over the city in December, Forest wants to complete their first competition for Villa since 1984-85.
Villa has been unbeaten in their last eight Home League matches against Forest (W5 D3) since a 2-0 loss in October 1994. They scored at least twice in each of the last seven in Villa Park.
Opta wins probability
Aston Villa – 46.1%
Nottingham Forest – 29.1%
Drawing – 24.8%
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