Nottingham Forest meet Aston Villa in the first leg of an all-English semi-final tie in 2025-26 UEFA Europa League.
Forest saw off Porto to book their spot in this all-English semi-final, whilst Villa cruised past Bologna in their Quarter-Final tie.
Team News
Jair Cunha is a doubt for Forest after he suffered a shoulder injury during their 5-0 victory at Sunderland in the Premier League.
Dan Ndoye and Ibrahim Sangare are doubts due to knocks.
Murillo (muscle), Callum Hudson-Odoi (quad), Willy Boly, Nicolo Savona and John Victor (all knee) remain absent.
Villa could welcome Amadou Onana back into contention after he missed their 1-0 Premier League loss at Fulham due to a knee injury.
Alysson (muscle) and Boubacar Kamara (knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Forest host Villa at the City Ground on Thursday 30 April at 8pm BST, live on TNT Sports 1 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is Forest’s first Europa League meeting against Villa.
- Villa are winless in their last four visits to Forest – albeit in the Premier League (D2, L2).
- Forest have kept just one clean sheet in their last five home matches against Villa in all competitions.
- Forest have kept two clean sheets in their six matches in the knockout phase of this season’s competition (W3, D1, L2).
- Ollie Watkins scored three goals across Villa’s last two Europa League matches (W2).
Prediction
Having produced a clinical display to beat Sunderland to ease their domestic relegation worries with a five-point gap to the drop, Forest can afford to put slightly more focus on this tie than even Vitor Pereira would of anticipated so I expect him to put out a strong team with Midlands pride also at stake.
Villa though are virtually assured of a top-five finish with an eight-point lead over sixth-placed Brighton with four matches left, so they too can afford to put more onus on this tie than they might of initially planned but they’ve got to be more clinical than they were at Fulham.
Nevertheless I expect a tough scrap here but I do think that Villa will improve enough to snatch a draw and finish the job at home next week.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Aston Villa