Aston Villa face Nottingham Forest in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final with Unai Emery’s men under huge pressure to turn the tie around following their performance in the Premier League last time out.
Villa were beaten 1-0 by Forest at the City Ground in the first leg as Chris Wood’s penalty gave Vitor Pereira’s side the advantage in the tie.
Emery subsequently made the decision to rest several key players against Tottenham on Sunday, but saw that move backfire spectacularly as Villa produced a dreadful performance in a 2-1 defeat to relegation-threatened Spurs.
Pereira, whose side are not yet safe from relegation, arguably took an even bigger gamble in resting eight players for their trip to Chelsea.
However, his much-changed side were dominant against the Blues, surging to a 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge to move six points clear of the bottom three with three games to play.
As such, they will surely make the short trip to Villa in confident mood, though there is doubt around the availability of in-form forward Morgan Gibbs-White following the cut he sustained in a collision with Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
Forest are seeking to reach the final of a major competition for the first time since the 1992 EFL Cup final, which they lost to Manchester United.
Villa lost the final of the same competition in 2020, suffering a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City. Their last major trophy came in the EFL Cup in 1996, and they have endured great frustration in their efforts to end that drought in recent years, losing in the semi-finals of the Conference League and last season’s FA Cup under Emery.
“Do you hear it (the criticism)? The answer would be no,” captain John McGinn said in quotes reported by the Express and Star about Villa’s performances on the biggest occasions.
“But you feel it yourself. You have pride and you want to take that step, we all want to take the step we know we are missing.
“In 20 to 25 years time will we have pride for taking Aston Villa from the Championship to the top stages of the Premier League? Of course we will.
“But will that be forgotten about when we leave? 100 per cent. The club will continue to build.
“We want to be a team that is remembered for winning silverware. Does that come with pressure because you missed out previously? Probably, aye.
“But there is always pressure playing for Aston Villa and that is no different.
“Are we aware of it? Of course we are. It makes us more determined to go and take one step further.
“If there are critics, it would probably be deserved. But there is nothing better in football – and I say it all the time – than proving people wrong.
“People will have doubts until we take that step. There are only 16 people on Thursday night who can change it.”
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Team news for Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest
McGinn should return from a muscle injury that kept him out of the loss to Tottenham, but Amadou Onana is a doubt with a calf strain.
Boubacar Kamara remains out with a knee injury, and Ross Barkley is ineligible.
Outside of Gibbs-White, there is concern around defender Zack Abbott, who suffered a head injury against Chelsea.
Forest’s injury list is lengthy, and they could again be without Ola Aina, Ibrahim Sangare and Murillo. Dan Ndoye is a doubt, with Nicolo Savona, Callum Hudson-Odoi, John Victor and Willy Boly are all on the sideline.
Predicted line-ups for Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest
Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Bogarde, Tielemans; McGinn, Rogers, Buendia; Watkins
Nottingham Forest: Ortega; Abbott, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams; Hutchinson, Dominguez, Anderson, Gibbs-White; Jesus, Wood
Where to watch Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest: TV and online streams
Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest kicks off at 8pm on Thursday. It will be broadcast on TNT Sports 1 and available to stream via HBO Max. Sky subscribers with a TNT package can also stream the game via Sky Go.
Stats for Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest
- Villa are unbeaten in each of their last 10 meetings with Forest at Villa Park across all competitions (W7 D3), since a 2-0 loss in the Premier League in October 1994 under Ron Atkinson.
- Forest are unbeaten in each of their three European games against fellow English opposition, keeping a clean sheet each time (W2 D1) – their only previous away match was at Anfield versus Liverpool in the 1978-79 European Cup first round, which ended in a 0-0 draw.
- Villa have won each of their last nine home games in major European competition, since a 0-0 draw with Juventus in last season’s UEFA Champions League; they have also scored in 31 of their last 32 matches at Villa Park in such competitions, with that goalless draw the lone exception.
- Forest are looking to reach a third major European final after the 1978-79 and 1979-80 European Cups – they have only been eliminated from one of their last 13 knockout stage ties when winning the first leg, with that defeat coming in the 1983-84 UEFA Cup semi-final against Anderlecht.
- Villa are aiming to reach a second major European final, after the 1981-82 European Cup; the last team to overturn a first leg deficit in a major European tie against an opponent from the same nation as them were Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona in the 2015-16 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals (1- 2 away 1st leg, 2-0 home 2nd leg).
- No team have recorded more clean sheets in the 2025-26 UEFA Europa League than both Villa and Forest (7), both keeping a joint-high three in the knockout stages.
- Villa manager Unai Emery has only once before lost both legs of a knockout stage tie in the UEFA Cup/Europa League, with Valencia against Atletico Madrid in the 2011-12 semi-finals. That was the last two-legged tie the Spaniard was eliminated from in this competition, progressing from 22 in a row since.
Prediction for Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest
Villa Park will be desperate for a response in the game Emery clearly prioritised after their awful showing against Spurs. Still, Forest are in excellent form and an early goal from them would make for a very nervy evening for the home fans. Villa’s extra quality and the factor of home advantage cannot be discounted, but this may be a long night for both teams.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Nottingham Forest (Villa win on penalties)
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