Unai Emery admits he finds Aston Villa's 2-0 loss to Nottingham Forest "hard to accept" after his side failed to convert their chances. 

Ola Aina gave Forest a fifth-minute lead when he side-footed a strike into the net from 25 yards. 

The hosts doubled their advantage just after half-time when Emi Martinez only got a hand to Orel Mangala's powerful strike and could not prevent the ball from crossing the line.

Emery, 52, told Sky Sports: "It is very hard to accept the result. We made some mistakes. 

"We conceded early but for another 80 minutes we played with a good mentality, to try and score. 

"The second half they scored another early goal. After this we were controlling the game, creating chances and getting corners. 

"It is very difficult when the other team score first. They defended deeply."

Villa would have gone third in the Premier League with a win but instead lost in the top flight for the first time since they were beaten 3-0 by Liverpool in early September.

Despite the disappointing result, they have still had an impressive start to the season and Emery is proud of his players.

He added: "We are fifth in the league, we have 22 points. Of course, if we could achieve the three points today we would be better.

"I am proud of the players. Before this match I was very proud of the players. 

"We took this match as a challenge to get the top four teams. We didn't achieve it and there is still work to do to try and correct the things we did today with some mistakes."