Nottingham Forest
- Nottingham Forest are unbeaten in their last five competitive games and secured a first European semi-final in 42 years by defeating Porto.
- Vítor Pereira’s Forest are more disciplined and prefer possession, but they are flexible and can play either a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 with compactness and vertical breaks the key.
Aston Villa
- Aston Villa have won three and drawn one of their last five matches, including a 4-0 win over Bologna in the last round of the Europa League.
- Villa are in the top four of the Premier League with 58 points and have shown that they can maintain European ambition while staying competitive in their domestic campaign.
- Villa slipped up 1-0 to Fulham in a recent game and know they cannot afford a mistake like that in this semi-final first leg.
Head-to-Head
- Villa have the better recent head-to-head record.
- The last match at the City Ground finished 1-1.
Key Players
- Villa
- Morgan Rogers provides a spark from deep for Villa, while Emiliano Buendía is their main unlocking player with a combination of vision and movement.
- Ollie Watkins is the main man up front and is in form, having scored his 100th Villa goal recently.
- Forest
- Ezri Konsa is the rock of Villa’s defence and the set-piece threat in the box while Morgan Gibbs-White is the creative spark for Forest.
- The ex-Derby midfielder has been decisive in the Porto tie and recent league fixtures, showing he is the man for the big occasion.
Betting Insights
- Villa are 3.0 favorites to win this game with Forest at 2.57 and the draw at 3.41.
- The both teams to score market is a solid 1.72 and there should be goals in this game because both clubs want to get ahead and will play to win.
Prediction
We’ll side with the Villans to get something from the first game in the double chance market.
