Nottingham Forest take a slender 1-0 lead into the second leg of this UEFA Europa League semi-final at Villa Park. Both clubs are chasing a place in a major European final for the first time since they each lifted the European Cup in the 1980s.
Villa are looking tired as the season draws to a close. Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham was their third loss in a row across all competitions, with the first leg defeat sitting within that difficult run. It is a sharp contrast to the nine successive Europa League wins they put together beforehand. To go through, Villa must do something they have never managed before, as they are yet to win a major European semi-final second leg. That said, Unai Emery’s side can take heart from the fact that they have won all six of their Europa League games at Villa Park this season.
Forest, meanwhile, are finishing the campaign in fine form. They followed up their first leg win by beating Chelsea 3-1 on Monday, making it five wins in a row across all competitions. That result has all but secured their place in the top flight for another season, meaning they can now turn their full attention to the prospect of reaching a first European final since 1980. It has not been plain sailing to get here, they needed extra time to see off Midtjylland and edged past Porto 2-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, but they have travelled well in this competition, going unbeaten in all their away legs in the knockout rounds.
Villa have won each of the last four home meetings between the two sides, though they have only won two of the last five encounters overall. Forest are unbeaten against English clubs in European competition, keeping a clean sheet in every such match.
In terms of key stats, Villa have scored two or more goals in each of their last five Europa League home games. Forest have converted more penalties than any other side in the competition this season with five, and in nine of their last ten Europa League matches the home side on the day has scored no more than once.
Emiliano Buendía got on the scoresheet for Villa at the weekend, though four of his five goals this season came before the half hour mark. Igor Jesus has scored four goals in four away Europa League appearances, with three of those coming in the first half.
Villa are missing Boubacar Kamara and Amadou Onana. Forest were already without Ola Aina, Murillo and Ibrahim Sangare, and their injury concerns grew after both Zach Abbott and Morgan Gibbs-White were taken off due to concussion protocols on Monday.
