Nottingham Forest plan is clear as Vitor Pereira bids for double success | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest enter the run-in, balancing a Europa League charge with the push for Premier League safety after Friday’s 5-0 rout of Sunderland.

According to Nottingham Post, Aston Villa visit the City Ground on Thursday, 8pm kick-off, for the semi-final first leg. The return is at Villa Park a week later.

Murillo is expected to be out and there is concern over Jair Cunha, so Morato is likely to step in. In Europe Pereira has used Stefan Ortega, and keeping faith with the former Manchester City man would make sense. Recent games have seen Igor Jesus behind Chris Wood with Morgan Gibbs-White on the left.

Next week brings a quick turnaround, from Chelsea away on Monday to the second leg on Thursday. For now, the priority is to leave the first leg within reach of progression.

Despite the Sunderland boost, Pereira has cautioned the job is not done. Wins for West Ham and Tottenham kept the table largely unchanged, with four league games left and a two-game swing still required for Spurs to overtake Forest. The five goals and clean sheet also aided goal difference and belief.

West Ham go to Brentford on Saturday, Spurs travel to Villa on Sunday, then Forest visit Chelsea on Monday. It may not be decisive, but fingernails might still be bitten come May 24th.

Summer churn looms, with interest in Elliot Anderson, admirers for Gibbs-White and Murillo, speculation over Neco Williams and Matz Sels, and Lucca’s permanent option not expected to be taken up.

Source: Nottingham Post