Two erstwhile European champions both harbouring ambitions of Champions League football next season collide on Saturday evening, as Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest square off at Villa Park in the Premier League.
Both continental chasers enter the weekend on the back of midweek successes, as the Lions' trip to Brighton & Hove Albion ended in a 3-0 victory, while the Tricky Trees took down Manchester United thanks to a former Red Devils flame.
Match preview
Belatedly now adding goals as well as assists to his repertoire in an Aston Villa jersey, the rejuvenated Marcus Rashford followed up his brace against Preston North End in the FA Cup quarter-finals with his maiden Premier League strike for the Lions in another three-goal success.
The Red Devils loanee's effort early in the second period preceded two super-sub goals from Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen, earning Villa a third consecutive 3-0 win across all tournaments and their sixth on the spin by any scoreline as they spring into the spring.
The hosts remain capable of bringing home an astounding Champions League and FA Cup double, but as they are only seventh in the Premier League table and have some ground to make up to the top four positions, it would not be outlandish to suggest that the top flight is still Unai Emery's priority.
Villa's mission to dine at Europe's top table via the Premier League has been helped by a magnificent streak of home form, now unbeaten in 14 straight top-flight games at Villa Park, where only Arsenal have got one over Emery's team in the competition during the 2024-25 season.
Furthermore, the West Midlands outfit could now set a unique club record; they have won three Premier League home games when conceding the first goal in the 2024-25 season, but never before have they won four at Villa Park when falling 1-0 down in a single campaign.
However, as both Manchester City and now Man United have learned in 2025, falling 1-0 down against Nottingham Forest is best avoided, as Nuno Espirito Santo's men maintained their firm grip on the Premier League's bronze medal by eking out a slender win over the latter in midweek.
As the likes of Rashford and Antony thrive elsewhere, former Man United attacker Anthony Elanga coincidentally had the last laugh against his old employers with a splendid solo run and finish, one that made it five straight victories for the Garibaldi in all tournaments.
Santo's men are also gearing up for a trip to Wembley to face Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals, but defensive deficiencies on the road must be ironed out if they are to both set up a potential final with Villa and come away from Saturday's game with something to show for it.
Indeed, Forest have conceded at least twice in each of their last four Premier League away matches - letting in 13 in total at an average of over three per game - although their 54% win percentage on their travels is still their best ever in a top-flight season.
Prior to Elanga's heroics against Man United, the scintillating Swede also capped off a mesmerising 2-1 fightback victory for Forest against Villa in December, putting the Garibaldi within 90 minutes of their first-ever Premier League double over the Champions League quarter-finalists.
Team News
One slightly sour aspect of Villa's victory at Brighton was a late injury to Morgan Rogers, who pulled up and limped off with four minutes of normal time to play, but there are currently no indications on how severe his problem is.
However, Emery is not exactly starved of options in attack, where recent goalscorers Malen and Asensio can both fill in for Rogers on the right flank; out of Villa's last seven goals at home, Asensio has bagged six of them.
Ross Barkley (knee) and Leon Bailey (knock) are the hosts' only other fitness concerns for Saturday, but the former is already back in training, and the latter may even return to boost Emery's attacking choices further.
Meanwhile, Forest got the job done against Man United in spite of Chris Wood's absence; the 33-year-old is still nursing the hip problem he sustained on international duty and is touch-and-go for this game at the time of writing.
Santo also had to cope without Callum Hudson-Odoi due to personal reasons, but the winger will be back here, while Ola Aina left the field in the first half with a calf concern and will be out for a short while.
Aina's absence on Saturday is further complicated by the fact that Alex Moreno cannot play his parent club, so either Morato or the forgotten man Harry Toffolo may have to deputise at full-back.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Cash, Disasi, Mings, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; Asensio, Ramsey, Rashford; Watkins
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Morato; Dominguez, Anderson; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Awoniyi
We say: Aston Villa 2-1 Nottingham Forest
Premier League fixtures hardly come more fascinating than this; both Villa and Forest are enjoying exceptional winning sequences, and Saturday's evening battle may very well be a precursor to the FA Cup final.
On this occasion, however, we envisage Emery's men flexing their Villa Park muscles and capitalising on Forest's away-day defensive woes to come up trumps, thus putting a slight dent in their visitors' Champions League prospects.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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