Aston Villa boss Unai Emery felt Nottingham Forest should have been reduced to 10 men as his side’s miserable start to the season continued with a 2-1 home defeat.

Igor Jesus’ 88th-minute strike handed Forest the points at Villa Park after Alysson had earlier cancelled out Liam Delap’s superb opener for the visitors.

The Brazilian’s strike came when Villa were playing with 10 men after Ian Maatsen limped off injured following a reckless tackle by Forest midfielder James McAtee, who escaped with a yellow card.

The defeat leaves Villa with just one point and one goal from their opening four games, with progress slow following a summer upheaval.

But Emery said: “When we equalised, the match could change, but we finished with Ian Maatsen injured. 

“And with 10 players we conceded so many chances in the last minutes and they scored the second goal and they deserved it. 

“But after watching it on TV, I think the VAR referee should call the referee because it’s a clear tackle from behind and for me it should be a red card.

“Of course, they deserved it. They played the second half, deserved to win. But the decision of the referee should be different. 

“After the injury of Maatsen we’re finishing with 10 and, of course, we can have one injured player on the field. But in this case it was a tackle and he injured the player. Of course, he didn’t want to injure our player. 

“But if we can watch it through the TV, it’s a VAR action, and to call the referee it should be a red card and maybe finishing with 10 v 10 was different in the match. 

“But it’s not an excuse for how we played in the second half. We played so, so poor, and this is my responsibility.”

The visitors were worthy of their first win under new boss Oliver Glasner, who continues to enjoy dominance over Emery.

The victory was the eighth match in a row where Glasner has avoided defeat against the Spaniard since he came to England in 2023.

Asked whether he could give some insight into how he has such an edge, the Austrian said: “I spoke to him before the game and it’s still 5-2 for him, five European trophies to two. 

“So I said to myself, ‘Oliver Glasner, stay humble’. And this is how I will stay. 

“It’s great. Every game, every win is great. But I didn’t play one second today. 

“So it’s all about the players deserving all the credit, they did so well.

“How they coped with the equaliser, more or less from nothing – it felt from nothing – and not having the mindset to defend the draw and going back to Nottingham with one point. 

“It was the opposite. It felt like everybody thought, ‘No, this can’t be a draw. How we played, how many chances we created. No, we don’t want to go home with a draw. We have to win this game’.  And this is what the players showed.”