Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest - prediction, team news, lineups

Two Premier League teams inactive searching for their archetypal triumph of the caller play conscionable astatine Villa Park connected Saturday afternoon, arsenic Aston Villa play big to Nottingham Forest.

This fixture is simply a repetition of past season’s Europa League semi-final which Villa won 4-1 connected aggregate aft netting each 4 of their goals successful a ascendant second-leg show connected their ain turf.

Match preview

Aston Villa are yet to triumph oregon people successful the Premier League truthful acold this season, with back-to-back defeats to Brighton (4-0) and champions Arsenal (1-0) followed by a goalless stalemate with high-flying Hull City past weekend.

Unai Emery’s men are present seeking to debar becoming the archetypal squad successful England’s top-four divisions to not people successful immoderate of their opening 4 matches of a league run successful successive seasons, aft doing truthful successful 2025-26.

The Midlands nine person struggled to airs an attacking menace connected the home front, arsenic they fertile 19th for expected goals (2.6), 18th for touches successful the opposition’s container (45) and 16th for xG per changeable (0.1) successful the Premier League aft the archetypal 3 games.

However, Villa rediscovered their objective interaction and ended their winless commencement to the run connected Tuesday, arsenic they secured a 3-2 triumph distant against Club Brugge successful the Champions League, with Emery labelling the morale-boosting triumph arsenic “one precise important measurement forward”.

Villa volition backmost themselves to prevail erstwhile again connected Saturday, arsenic they person won each of their past six Premier League location encounters with Nottingham Forest. The lone squad they person beaten successful 7 consecutive location matches successful the apical tier are Forest’s rivals Derby County from 1996 to 2007.

Nottingham Forest person failed to triumph their opening 3 games of a Premier League run for the precise archetypal time, portion Oliver Glasner is yet to sensation triumph arsenic the club’s caller manager, with 2 draws and 2 losses posted crossed 4 games successful each competitions.

Back-to-back location defeats to Leeds United successful some the league and EFL Cup were followed by a respectable 2-2 gully with Liverpool astatine Anfield and a scrappy, goalless stalemate with Tottenham Hotspur astatine the City Ground past weekend.

Glasner, who is present winless successful his past 10 Premier League games arsenic a manager (D5 L5), said that his Forest broadside "lost 2 points" against Spurs arsenic the frustrated Austrian manager felt that Neco Williams's second-half disallowed extremity should person stood.

Only Bournemouth (12), Brentford (11) and Leeds (11) person drawn much Premier League matches successful 2026 than Forest (10), portion Andoni Iraola (33) is the lone manager to person overseen much draws than Glasner since arriving successful the part successful February 2024 (31).

A instrumentality to winning ways is acold from a warrant for the Tricky Trees connected Saturday, arsenic they person won conscionable three, drawn six and mislaid 9 of their erstwhile 18 Premier League meetings with Aston Villa. In fact, they person lone been beaten much times successful the part by Arsenal, Everton, Man United and Newcastle (all 11).

Forest tin astatine slightest instrumentality immoderate comfortableness from Glasner’s beardown idiosyncratic grounds against Emery; the erstwhile Crystal Palace brag ne'er mislaid to Emery’s Villa during his clip astatine Selhurst Park, collecting 11 points from a imaginable 15 disposable (W3 D2).

Aston Villa Premier League form:

Aston Villa signifier (all competitions):

Nottingham Forest Premier League form:

Nottingham Forest signifier (all competitions):

Team News

Aston Villa volition beryllium without injured quartet Leon Goretzka, Johan Manzambi, Amadou Onana (all knee) and Brian Madjo (ankle), portion Joao Gomes volition service the 3rd and last lucifer of his three-game suspension.

Matty Cash missed the midweek Champions League triumph with musculus fatigue and has emerged arsenic a doubt. New signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka could truthful clasp his spot astatine right-back.

Fellow caller enlistee Taylor Harwood-Bellis was near retired of Villa’s UCL squad, but helium is disposable for enactment this play and is acceptable to rival Victor Lindelof for a commencement astatine centre-back.

Ibrahim Mbaye - a £47m signing from PSG - volition beryllium pushing to marque his afloat debut connected either flank, but Emery whitethorn similar to instrumentality with teenage starlet George Hemmings and John McGinn successful wide positions, portion Nicolas Jackson leads the enactment and looks to people successful back-to-back games.

As for Nottingham Forest, Nicolo Savona remains sidelined with a genu injury, portion Ibrahim Sangare volition person a calf contented assessed up of kickoff aft missing the gully with Spurs.

Only Chelsea’s Morgan Rogers (nine) has created much chances from unfastened play successful the Premier League this play than James McAtee (eight), who volition anticipation to fend disconnected contention from Sangare - if acceptable - and clasp his starting spot successful centre-midfield alongside Xaver Schlager.

Glasner volition beryllium tempted to manus Daniel Munoz his afloat debut astatine close wing-back astatine the disbursal of Ola Aina, portion Callum Hudson-Odoi, Igor Jesus and Chris Wood volition each beryllium looking to unit their mode backmost into a Forest onslaught that has failed to people successful 3 of their archetypal 4 games this term.

Aston Villa imaginable starting lineup:

Suzuki; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Torres, Maatsen; Kamara, Barkley; McGinn, Buendia, Hemmings; Jackson

Nottingham Forest imaginable starting lineup:

Sels; Milenkovic, Cunha, Murillo; Munoz, Schlager, McAtee, Williams; Gibbs-White, Jesus; Delap

We say: Aston Villa 2-1 Nottingham Forest

Both teams volition beryllium hopeless to assertion their archetypal 3 points of the campaign, but an Aston Villa broadside buoyed by their morale-boosting midweek triumph boast the intelligence advantage, fixed their caller head-to-head location record.

While Forest are much than susceptible of executing a disciplined crippled program nether Glasner, their chiseled deficiency of a objective cutting borderline could beryllium costly erstwhile again, arsenic we are backing the hosts to prevail successful a choky contest.

For information investigation of the astir apt results, scorelines and much for this lucifer delight click here.