Nottingham Forest

vs

Aston Villa

Preview

Forest (home)

• Forest have the 16th-best record in the PL, with 32 points from 31 matches.
• Forest have two wins and two draws from their last five.
• Vitor Pereira has had an immediate impact at Forest since taking charge in February 2026, instilling a pragmatic style of play which prioritises structure and organisation above all else.

Villa (away)

• Villa are 4th with 54 points from 31 matches.
• Villa have three wins and two defeats from their last five.
• Unai Emery’s style is almost a polar opposite to that of Forest.
• Since he took charge at Villa in November 2022, his teams have been possession dominant, high-pressers in their zone and can transition very quickly from defence to attack and vice versa.

Head-to-Head

• The last time these two met was in the Premier League three months ago and Villa won that home match 3-1.
• In the five meetings between these sides across all competitions since 2020, Villa have won three times to Forest’s two.

Key Players

• Ollie Watkins is Aston Villa’s top scorer in the PL this season with nine goals in 30 appearances, while Morgan Gibbs-White has the same return in one more match (31).
• Villa average 1.27 goals per away game in the PL, which is the same number that Forest have conceded per home match on average this season.

Betting Insights

• Villa are the better side and have the better away record, but I think I can get more value out of my main selection by taking Villa to edge this game and under 2.5 total goals to be scored.
• Villa are fresh off the back of a 2-0 win over OSC Lille in the Europa League and a 2-0 win over West Ham in the league.
• BTTS - No as the top value bet from the market.

Prediction

• I expect Villa’s extra quality to tell, but this will be a cagey game.
• Villa to win and under 2.5 match goals will be the main selection for Sunday’s game, with BTTS - No as the top value bet from the market.