Preview: Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa – stats, team news, line-ups | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest welcome Aston Villa to City Ground for a mouth-watering all-Premier League Europa League semi-final first leg on Thursday night.

Despite coming into this fixture from opposite sides of the Premier League table, these two teams have a strong chance of going all the way in Europe’s second-tier tournament this season.

Forest and Villa are also squaring off in contrasting form. The Tricky Trees will be brimming with confidence after tearing Sunderland to shreds in their most recent Premier League outing.

Meanwhile, Villa suffered a minor setback in their quest to secure Champions League football after falling to a shock 1-0 defeat at Fulham.

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Match Preview

Producing arguably their most complete performance of the season, Forest defeated Sunderland 5-0 to strengthen their chances of avoiding relegation from the Premier League.

Sunderland have been praised all season for being difficult to overpower at the Stadium of Light, but Forest decimated them with the minimum of fuss.

The Tricky Trees had the game wrapped up in the first half after a riotous 20-minute spell where they racked up an astonishing four-goal lead.

An own goal from Trai Hume got the ball rolling while Morgan Gibbs-White extended his record as the Premier League’s top scorer in 2026 on either side of goals from Chris Wood and Igor Jesus.

The highly sought-after Elliot Anderson joined the party at the last minute, capping off a five-star performance from Vitor Pereira’s side.

Forest have been a different beast since mid-March, when they eliminated Midtjylland in the Europa League quarter-final.

They are now unbeaten in their last eight games across all competitions (W5, D2) and will take on Villa on the back of a three-match winning streak.

However, getting the better of Villa will be a huge task for Forest, considering they’ve already failed to do so in two Premier League attempts this season (D1, L1).

They’ve also won just one of their last five meetings with Villa (D1, L3), so they’ll have to repeat that exceptional performance against Sunderland to stand any chance.

After missing out on goal difference last season, Villa are on course to qualify for the Champions League.

Their momentum took a hit after the narrow defeat to Fulham, where they were second best by Youri Tielemans’ admission.

However, they still hold a healthy eight-point lead over Brighton & Hove Albion with four games left, so they can afford to focus on their Europa League ambitions.

With Unai Emery in charge, Villa are undoubtedly favourites to go all the way and secure their first piece of silverware in three decades.

The defeat to Fulham snapped Villa’s six-match unbeaten streak across all competitions, including a staggering 7-1 aggregate victory over Bologna in the quarter-final.

As the most successful manager in the history of the competition, Emery knows what it takes to succeed in the Europa League, making Villa the favourites heading into Thursday’s outing.

Villa will fancy their chances of getting back to winning ways immediately, given their impressive record against Forest. 

But this will be the first time these two sides are going head-to-head in the Europa League, so Villa will be silly to underestimate their Premier League counterparts.

Team News

Forest’s Jair Cunha is doubtful for the game after picking up a knock just before the hour mark against Sunderland. 

The Tricky Trees were already missing Murillo, who sustained a hamstring injury in the 4-1 win against Burnley, so Cunha’s absence will be a huge blow.

Forest will also be without Callum Hudson-Odoi, John Victor and Nicolo Savana.

Amadou Onana is a doubt for Villa after pulling up with a knee problem in the build-up to the defeat against Fulham.

Villa will also be without Boubacar Kamara, while Ross Barkley and Alysson were not included in the Europa League squad for the knockout stage.

Nottingham Forest Potential Starting XI

(4-4-2): Matz Sels; Olai Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Morato, Neco Williams; Morgan Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangare, Elliot Anderson, Omari Hutchinson; Chris Wood, Igor Jesus.

Aston Villa Potential Starting XI

(4-2-3-1): Emiliano Martinez; Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres, Lucas Digne; Youri Tielemans, Douglas Luiz; Emiliano Buendia, Morgan Rogers, John McGinn; Ollie Watkins.