Vitor Pereira's side made it four league games unbeaten, climbing up to 16th on the table, and added further breathing room between it and 18th-placed Tottenham Hotspur, which lost 1-0 at Sunderland.

Forest did suffer an early blow at The City Ground when Murillo’s own goal sent Unai Emery's visitors ahead, after the Brazilian inadvertently turned home Morgan Rogers’s wicked left-sided cross 23 minutes in.

Rogers then struck the crossbar after a fine pass from John McGinn, only for Neco Williams to respond two seven minutes before half-time when fizzing into the bottom-left corner from 18 yards out.

Chances remained at a premium until the hour mark, when Marco Bizot expertly kicked away Morgan Gibbs-White's deflected effort, before McGinn forced a fine stretching stop from Matz Sels.

Rogers then blazed over after Sels split Ross Barkley's delivery before Ollie Watkins spurned another glorious chance to win it, leaving Villa to rue a missed opportunity.

Williams claims Forest will take no notice of results elsewhere in the battle to avoid the drop, instead focusing solely on what it can control.

"You don't want to look at the table too much because you want to focus on yourself. It's hard not to with the position we are in. It's a good point, and we need to build on that," Williams said.

"Every game for us now is a cup final. Every point is so important. We need to build and carry on with this momentum."

The Wales full-back attempted a game-leading four shots in total, with three of those on target, again topping that metric in this clash.

"The manager has been telling me to shoot outside the box more, and that's what I did," Williams added. "I took a few, and one went in, so I'm pleased with that. With the surface and the rain, it was important to get our shots off."

Forest has drawn five of its six Premier League home games in 2026, more than any other team in the division this year.

But Pereira saw the performance as a vital point against UEFA Champions League-chasing Villa, which could have won it in the second half through either Morgan Rogers or Ollie Watkins.

"It was a good point in a difficult game against a very difficult opponent. Opportunities from one side, opportunities from the other. In the end, one point I think is a good result," Pereira said.

"Villa is a team not easy to control. They create some problems, you try to face the problems and create our own chances. After the goal, it's the character, confidence, spirit. We scored our goal and had chances to score more goals, and they did as well.

"When we decided to bring on another striker, we wanted to win the game. Three points would be better than one.

"We are in the right way with the right spirit. It's important to get points every game until the end."