Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is not expecting Nottingham Forest to maintain their free-scoring form against his side in the Europa League semi-finals tomorrow night.
Forest have given their hopes of escaping relegation from Premier League a significant boost over the past fortnight with resounding wins over Burnley (4-1) and Sunderland (5-0).
Villa, therefore, could be forgiven for making the short trip to the City Ground with a sense of trepidation but Emery is confident his side will be able to cope with Forest’s attacking threat.
He said: “I don’t expect it to be easy because Nottingham Forest are playing with confidence and are very competitive. Maybe they feel they can get an advantage, as they have scored nine goals in two matches.
“But I expect us to be competitive tomorrow, to try to dominate, and to stop their attack and set pieces. I think both teams will need the second leg, and we are expecting a tight result.”
Emery is a Europa League specialist having won the trophy four times during his career and, although this is an all-Premier League joust, he says the context makes it a different proposition to a regular domestic fixture.
“We will play two legs and, of course, the first 90 minutes are very important, but we will still have the second leg to play,” he added.
“When you are playing in the Premier League, the matches may seem the same, but they are different in terms of how you manage the momentum – even between the first half of the first leg and the second half of the second leg.”
It has been a turbulent season for Forest and they are now on their fourth head coach. Vitor Pereira appears to have brought some consistency on the banks of the Trent, though, following the reigns of Nuno Espírito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche.
A subtle tweak in formation that has pushed Morgan Gibbs-White into a wider position has reaped huge benefits with the England international scoring four goals in his last two games.
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Team news for Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa
Defender Jair Cunha has returned to training after being forced off in the win at Sunderland on Friday night. Ibrahima Sangare and Dan Ndoye are doubts while Murillo, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Nicola Savona and John Victor are all definitely out.
Villa face an anxious wait to see if Amadou Onana is fit after missing the weekend defeat at Fulham due to a minor knee injury. Ross Barkley is ineligible after not being included in the Europa League squad submitted to UEFA for the knockout stages.
Predicted line-ups for Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa
Nottingham Forest: Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Cunha, Williams; Hutchinson, Dominguez, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Igor Jesus; Wood
Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Bogarde, Tielemans; McGinn, Buendia, Rogers; Watkins
Where to watch Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa: TV and online streams
Kick-off on Thursday is at 8pm UK time. In the UK, live coverage is on TNT Sports 2. Streaming is on the Discovery Plus app.
TNT Sports costs £30.99 a month, including Eurosport and entertainment and available on a vast range of devices including smart TVs and gaming consoles. From March 26, TNT Sports streaming will switch from Discovery Plus to HBO Max.
If you don’t live in the UK, click HERE to find out where to watch the game in your region.
Stats for Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa
- This is Nottingham Forest’s first European semi-final in 42 years
- Aston Villa have taken four points from the two league games between the sides this season
- Aston Villa have not won away from home in the Premier League since February
- Aston Villa have won their last nine European games
Prediction for Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa
If Forest can reproduce the performance they gave at Sunderland on Friday, then they will be very hard to stop. In Gibbs-White they have one of the best midfielders in the country currently.
We fancy them to edge this first leg but Villa will do enough to keep the tie alive ahead of next week’s return in Birmingham.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 2-1 Aston Villa
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