Tuesday night’s 3-2 win in the Champions League against RB Leipzig was Villa’s third in six days and a season that had stalled during an eight-match winless run has now been given new impetus.
Midfielder Tielemans believes manager Unai Emery’s calm head was key to overcoming the first real dip in the Spaniard’s reign and says the team are now keen to move on.
Saturday’s hosts Forest are one of the surprise packages of the season and sit fifth in the Premier League, above Villa on goal difference.
Tielemans said: “It (the blip) was always going to happen, it can’t just go in a straight line, always up.
“You know you’re going to have a dip at some point. But it’s all in how you react and the manager has been first class.
‘He didn’t panic. He hasn’t changed anything. He just stuck to his ways. “You can see now that with three wins in a row everyone is saying Villa are back, so let’s keep going.
“You always have dips in the season and we have to keep working hard, stay calm and that’s what we did.
“We know our plan, we know how we want to play and the games we won this week have been good. But we know we have to stay calm if we don’t win.”
Ross Barkley’s deflected winner five minutes from time gave Villa their fourth win in six Champions League matches and left them well-placed to secure a top eight place in the group stage, putting them would immediately advance to the last sixteen.
Tielemans, who was named UEFA’s player of the match at the Red Bull Arena, admitted Emery’s men would have been frustrated if they had not won after dominating the match for a long time.
Villa, who returned to Europe’s elite competition this season for the first time in four decades, next play Monaco on January 21 before completing the group stage the following week with a home game against Celtic.
When asked if they had anything to fear in the competition, Tielemans replied: “I don’t think we have to go that far.
“But listen, we know the competition is a little different this season. If you’re in a group stage you might slip and come back later, but I think everything can change from one week to the next.
“We have seen that when we lose a game we are almost at the bottom of the table, so the fact that we are now at the top there is very positive. Hopefully we can qualify (in the top eight).
“I thought we played very good football at times on Tuesday. We had good combinations and the goals we scored were really good. From my point of view, I thought we deserved the win.”
John McGinn had given Villa the perfect start as he fired them into a third-minute lead, but a defensive mix-up allowed Lois Openda to equalise.
A stunning effort from Jhon Duran then put the visitors back in front, but they were put back in front thanks to a fine finish from Christoph Baumgartner for Barkley’s late winner.
Duran’s 25-yard strike was his tenth of the season in all competitions and Tielemans said: “He knows he has a good chance on him. The goalkeeper could have done better. But he tries, and he has a lot of self-confidence.
‘He has a different purpose now. It is also never easy for a striker to find peace. He gave everything. He’s had a few chances where he could have done better and been a little more composed, but the fact that he’s scoring is important for the team.”
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