EPL: Aston Villa’s Winless Run Continues, Forest Furious Over VAR In Spurs Draw

Aston Villa’s difficult start to the Premier League season continued on Saturday, September 5, after Unai Emery’s side were held to a goalless draw by newly promoted Hull City.

The result means Villa are still without a victory after their opening three league matches, having previously suffered defeats against Brighton and Arsenal. They currently sit 17th in the table with one point.

Villa had opportunities to break the deadlock, with Nicolas Jackson heading Ian Maatsen’s cross narrowly wide inside the opening two minutes. Ross Barkley also failed to find the target from inside the penalty area in the 25th minute.

The visitors appealed for a penalty shortly before half-time after Jackson went down while attempting to connect with George Hemmings’ cross following contact from Nobel Mendy. However, referee Michael Oliver waved play on, with VAR also choosing not to intervene.

Villa captain John McGinn missed another promising opportunity early in the second half after being picked out by Jackson in front of goal.

Hull came closest to claiming all three points in the 65th minute when Mohamed Belloumi’s curling effort beat Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki but struck the crossbar. Suzuki was then called into action late in the game, producing an important save in the 89th minute to deny Mohamed-Ali Cho and preserve a point for Villa.

The draw leaves Hull in second place with seven points from their opening three matches, while Villa continue their search for their first league victory of the campaign.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest manager Oliver Glasner expressed his frustration with VAR after his team were held to a goalless draw by Tottenham at the City Ground.

Forest appeared to have taken the lead in the 67th minute when Neco Williams forced the ball into the net following a scramble inside the Tottenham penalty area. Referee Craig Pawson initially awarded the goal, but VAR official Peter Bankes intervened after determining that Williams had handled the ball before scoring.

Glasner questioned whether the available evidence was sufficient to overturn the referee’s original decision, arguing that VAR should only intervene when an error is clear.

According to Ireporter Online, the Forest manager said he had reviewed several angles of the incident and believed the footage did not conclusively establish that Williams had handled the ball.

Glasner also pointed to pre-season guidance that the threshold for VAR intervention would be kept high, insisting that the decision against Forest represented an inconsistency in the application of the system.

He said he told the referee after the match that he believed the goal should have stood.

The Premier League’s official match centre, however, stated that VAR had determined Williams handled the ball immediately before scoring, making the goal subject to disallowance.

Williams strongly disagreed with the decision, insisting that he did not handle the ball and maintaining that he headed it into the net between his arms.

The Forest defender described the decision as disappointing and questioned whether the incident met the threshold for VAR intervention.