Nottingham Forest meet high-flying Aston Villa at the City Ground in a Midlands derby.
Victory will see Forest climb to 12th in the table, whilst Villa can go third with a win for at least a few hours.
Team News
Chris Wood is ruled out for Forest after he missed their defeat at Liverpool with a hamstring injury.
Danilo (hamstring) and Taiwo Awoniyi (groin) face late fitness tests but Gonzalo Montiel (calf), Felipe (knee), Callum Hudson-Odoi (hamstring) and Divock Origi (hip) remain ruled out.
Villa could be without Duran Jhon as he recovers from a toe infection and could face a late fitness test.
Alex Moreno (fitness) could return but Tyrone Mings (knee), Jacob Ramsey (foot) and Emiliano Buendia (ACL) remain ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Forest host Villa at the City Ground in a 2:00pm GMT kick-off on Sunday 5 November, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Forest are winless in their last eight Premier League meetings against Aston Villa (D5, L4).
- Aston Villa are unbeaten in six previous Premier League visits to Forest (W2, D4)
- Both teams have scored in four of their last five meetings at Forest’s City Ground.
- Forest have scored first in two of their four matches at home this season (W1, D3).
- Villa have kept just two clean sheets in their opening 10 league matches of this season.
Prediction
After suffering a ruthless defeat at Liverpool with moments of weak marking especially when pushing high, Forest need to be more solid especially when opposition launch counter-attacks which was their weak point aside from a disappointing end product.
Villa meanwhile absolutely outclassed Luton last weekend with their superior attacking pace, creativity and end product, but they will certainly face a tougher test here against a stubborn Forest team so patience might well be needed here despite having high confidence.
Forest though have proven difficult to beat at home this season so I am anticipating a competitive game but if Villa play like they did last weekend, they should have enough in them to inflict a first home loss in the league this season on the hosts.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Aston Villa
Result: Nottingham Forest 2-0 Aston Villa
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