The Holy Trinity: Aston Villa conclusions from tame Premier League draw at Nottingham Forest

Villa dropped points at the City Ground but moved further clear of Chelsea in the battle for Champions League places

If you’ve lost count of the number of times has pulled out of the starting line-up before matches this season, join the club.

Aston Villa lost their first choice goalkeeper minutes before kick-off yet again on Sunday, bringing Marco Bizot into the team at short notice once more. I don’t think there’s anything nefarious going on but reliability matters and whatever issue Martínez is managing is doing Villa no favours.

His withdrawal had no obvious effect on the outcome of Villa’s Premier League match away at Nottingham Forest, a game that was short on incident, entertainment and points.

With a bit of luck, we’ll be looking back on this at the end of the season as a point gained rather than two points dropped. The Champions League is everything now and adding a point to the lead over Chelsea could prove invaluable in a few weeks’ time.

Here’s your Holy Trinity of match conclusions: