Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa: Team News, predicted line up, match preview

Aston Villa continues their campaign to keep up their form in the Premier League this weekend by visiting Nottingham Forest. 

Villa’s form this season remains on course, both in the continental and domestic campaigns. Unai Emery’s side have just secured a vital 3-1 away win against Bologna in the Europa League quarterfinal last Friday. They are hoping to carry on their positive run as they travel to City Ground, Nottingham.

The Tricky Trees are also still alive in the continental competition, as they still managed to be in contention in the same tournament as the Lions. In the midweek, Vitor Pereira’s men were able to salvage a 1-1 draw while taking on FC Porto on the road. Although they mainly owed it to Porto’s defender’s mistake leading to their own goal and Stefan Ortega’s superb performance between the sticks. This is something which Unai Emery’s men must keep in mind. 

Furthermore, Nottingham Forest have a bigger urgency to seal a win as they are currently battling for safety. They are only two points clear of Spurs in the red zone with only seven games remaining. Ollie Watkins and Co. must be cautious against this highly motivated Forest.

Set pieces strike again

In the previous game, Aston Villa were able to snatch a 3-1 win while visiting Bologna in the Europa League quarterfinals. They were mainly under pressure in the first half as Rossoblu kept knocking on the door in their backline. Jonathan Rowe almost made Villa frustrated as he often outpaced Matty Cash on the left side of our defence. 

Unai Emery’s side finally could break the deadlock through Ezri Konsa’s header ahead of the interval. Ollie Watkins doubled their lead in the second half before completing his brace in the last minute. 

In that match, Villa eventually managed to open the scoring after optimising the dead-ball situations, which have likely been regularly drilled by their specialist coach, Austin MacPhee. The first and last goals were scored after Youri Tielemans’ corner kick. The former Leicester City man appears to be maximising the set plays with his two assists. Those are their 15 goals from the set piece this season. The set pieces could play a bigger role too when they are unable to score from open play.

Team News 

Aston Villa might still be playing without Boubacar Kamara and Jadon Sancho. The former is suffering a long-term injury and unlikely to feature again till the end of the season, whereas the latter is still doubtful for getting a nod in the starting lineup.

Unai Emery provided updates regarding the Manchester United loanee as reported on avfc.co.uk.

“He’s improving and getting better, Sancho. We will see how he is tomorrow because he was injured for a few days or one, two or three weeks, but now it’s the second week, just starting the second week with his injury.”

The Spanish boss would not worry too much, as he still has an abundance of wingers and attacking midfielders in the squad. Villa still opts for the usual 4-2-3-1 or tweaks it to 4-4-1-1 just like in Bologna’s trip. 

Emiliano Martinez remains the first choice with Pau Torres, Ezri Konsa, Lucas Digne and Matty Cash on the backline. Emery could rest one of them and deploy Lamar Bogarde and/or Ian Maatsen on both sides of their defence. In the midfield, Youri Tielemans is likely chosen to accompany Amadou Onana to support John McGinn and Emiliano Buendia, who would operate on both wings, plus Morgan Rogers to support Watkins upfront. 

Where to watch Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa

The clash between Forest and Villa is broadcast live on Sky Sports. It is also available on NOW TV. 

 

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