Nottingham Forest host Aston Villa in a massive Midlands derby affecting both ends of the Premier League table.
Victory will lift Forest up to 15th until Monday evening at minimum, whilst Villa can go third with a win until Monday evening at minimum as well.
Team News
Forest have no fresh injury concerns to report following their 1-1 draw at Porto in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League Quarter-Final.
Jair Cunha (foot), Willy Boly, Nicolo Savona and John Victor (all knee) remain absent.
Villa will welcome Ross Barkley back after he was ineligible for their 3-1 victory at Bologna in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League Quarter-Final.
Boubacar Kamara (knee) and Jadon Sancho (shoulder) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Forest host Villa at the City Ground on Sunday 12 April at 2pm BST, live on Sky Sports Premier League in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Forest are unbeaten in three of their last seven meetings against Villa (W2, D1, L4).
- Villa are winless in their last six Premier League visits to Forest (D4, L2).
- Morgan Rogers has produced one goal and assist apiece across Villa’s last two meetings against Forest, albeit at home.
- Forest are yet to win a league match at home in 2026 (D4, L1).
- Villa have won just one top-flight away game in 2026 (W1, D2, L2).
Prediction
Having snatched a comedical draw at Porto, Forest ideally need to try and maintain their recent momentum but they will undoubtedly have one eye on that home leg which could well see them secure a semi-final against Villa if both clubs do advance, so I do expect some squad rotation here.
Villa likewise will definitely make some rotation after a strong display but with a 3-1 aggregate lead over Bologna, their eye will be on their home led too which makes this league clash interesting as both clubs have the same distraction of the Europa League.
With that in mind and factoring their poor respective home and away records, I do fancy this to be a close game depending on how both managers approach the match, but Villa realistically should nick this.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Aston Villa
Result: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Aston Villa