Villa climbs to second place in Premier League and Wolves finally earns first win

By Canadian Press on January 3, 2026.

Aston Villa rebounded from its first loss in two months by beating Nottingham Forest 3-1 on Saturday to climb into second place in the Premier League, while last-placed Wolverhampton finally got its first win.

Villa captain John McGinn scored twice in the second half, building on England striker Ollie Watkins’ long-range opener in first-half stoppage time.

Morgan Gibbs-White reduced the deficit to 2-1 in the 61st minute only for McGinn to restore Villa’s two-goal cushion after a poor piece of goalkeeping from Forest’s John Victor, who raced out of his area in an attempt to collect a ball over the top. McGinn easily rounded Victor and slotted the ball home from 30 yards (meters).

Victor went off injured immediately after the goal.

Villa’s 11-game winning run — which included eight victories in the league — was ended on Tuesday by a 4-1 thumping by Arsenal.

Unai Emery’s team moved above Manchester City, which hosts Chelsea on Sunday, and three points behind leader Arsenal, which visits Bournemouth later.

Wolves finally win

Wolves beat West Ham 3-0 to end its historically bad start to a top-flight season.

No team has taken this long to record its first win in a Premier League since the competition’s inception in 1992.

Jhon Arias, Hwang Hee-chan and Mateus Mané scored first-half goals for Wolves, which moved onto six points, still 12 from safety with 18 games remaining.

The team is only six points behind next-to-last Burnley, which lost at Brighton 2-0, and eight off third-to-last West Ham.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Steve Douglas, The Associated Press