John McGinn's first Premier League brace helped Aston Villa bounce back from defeat to title rival Arsenal as it downed Nottingham Forest 3-1.

The Villa captain's second-half double came after Ollie Watkins's earlier strike, while Morgan Gibbs-White's goal failed to spark a comeback as Unai Emery's side moved to within three points of current league leader Arsenal.

Watkins, who missed from just six yards out in the second minute, eventually thumped Villa into a deserved lead in first-half stoppage-time after receiving the ball on the edge of the box from Morgan Rogers before firing home.

McGinn quickly doubled Villa's advantage just four minutes after the restart, converting from Matty's Cash inviting cutback into the roof of the net.

But Forest threatened a comeback just after the hour when Gibbs-White dinked the ball over Emiliano Martinez for his 50th goal involvement in the competition.

However, a moment of madness from Forest goalkeeper John Victor saw him caught off his line and Villa restored its two-goal lead.

McGinn received a long ball from Youri Tielemans and finished into an empty net from distance in the 73rd minute.

Gibbs-White tried to force a nervy ending, testing Martinez with a shot from range, but the Argentina international thwarted his attempt as Villa saw the win through at home.

Villa has now won each of its past eight Premier League home games, its outright second-longest such run in the competition, only behind a 15-game streak between March and December 2023, also under Emery.

“We're building something special here, breaking more records and becoming more complete as a team,” McGinn said.

“Hopefully we can continue this run. Villa Park is a fortress at the moment. Exciting time to be a Villa player and a Villa supporter. We just keep riding that wave.

“The manager pushes us a lot and says I should be scoring a lot more goals.

“Thankfully I managed to get two goals today so hopefully he'll get off my back a bit! I saw the keeper out so I managed to get it round him and into the goal.”

Forest, meanwhile, has now lost four in a row to leave it four points above the relegation zone in 17th.

Although Watkins’s opener was a moment of quality, Elliot Anderson and John Victor made mistakes for the second and third goals respectively.

Forest boss Sean Dyche believes his side cannot keep making such errors if it wants to succeed.

“Very frustrating for us. We delivered the first half as I wished they would until the last moment of truth. Credit to them, really good turn and finish,” he said.

“The second goal was a basic mistake and we could have defended better. We scored a very good goal and then gave away another poor goal.

“You can't give basic errors away to teams like this in the Premier League. The mentality is there but you can't keep giving yourself a mountain to climb.

“Players were switching off to the basics, we have worked on it and shown them but this is the job. I never expected it to be easy when I got here.”