3 huge Championship clashes to keep an eye on this weekend

Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa

Nottingham Forest remain without a manager following the departure of Philippe Montanier on January 14, but have since then won two of their three Championship games.

Forest got a crucial win over Bristol City in their first game under caretaker Alan Brazil, before going down 2-0 away at Leeds four days later.

However, they picked up a vital 2-0 success over basement side Rotherham on Tuesday to move up to 19th in the table and, more importantly, eight points clear of danger.

And they’ll be confident of recording a third straight win at the City Ground when Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa visit on Saturday evening, who seem to have stuttered in recent weeks.

The Villans were going well under Bruce, who replaced the sacked Roberto di Matteo in October, before the turn of the year, and were actually ninth in the table and five points off the play-offs heading into 2017.

However, three defeats in four and just one point from 12 has seen them slip to 14th and ten points off the top six, which makes it absolutely imperative that they pick up three points on Saturday.

Henri Lansbury’s move from Forest to Villa during the January window will give the occasion some extra spice, and given that both teams are in need of the points, it should be a fascinating encounter at the City Ground on Saturday.