Aston Villa look like a side reborn under Dean Smith and will be looking to make it four wins on the bounce when they face Nottingham Forest at Villa Park on Wednesday night.

The West Midlands side will go into the match with a massive spring in their step after seeing off local rivals Birmingham City 4-2 in the Second City derby on Sunday afternoon.

Smith seems to be getting the best out of his attacking talent with his favoured 4-1-4-1 formation with Jonathan Kodjia and Albert Adomah on either wing and Jack Grealish and John McGinn causing havoc behind Tammy Abraham.

Kodjia, Abraham and Grealish all scored in that 4-2 win but it was the scorer of the fourth that really caught the eye as experienced right-back Alan Hutton ran half the length of the pitch before finishing superbly to kill the game off.

Hutton was heavily linked with a move to Wednesday's opponents in the summer with Aitor Karanka saying that the deal was all but agreed between the player and the club before the Scot decided to stay at Villa Park.

And here are three reasons why he was right to do so...

Sorry Forest fans, but it is true.

The 17 new signings brought in by Karanka may work in the long-term but it has proven to slow the Reds down significantly so far this campaign.

Whilst in the West Midlands, Villa look set to blitz their way up the table, overtaking Karanka's often timid defensive side on the way.

Aston Villa's defensive options remain very thin and that is another reason why Hutton was right to stay.

At Forest, he would have been competing with Tendayi Darikwa and Saidy Janko and, let's be honest, would have struggled to get in ahead of them.

At Villa, he remains relatively unchallenged.

Karanka has struggled to settle on a preferred XI so far this season, chopping and changing from game-to-game which has not helped the club put together a run of form.

Hutton has definitely benefited from the relative consistency under Vill and especially Dean Smith, allowing him to form a strong bond with his defensive unit as well as Albert Adomah down the right-wing.