Aston Villa go in search of a seventh straight victory in all competitions on Saturday evening, when welcoming Nottingham Forest to Villa Park.
B6 plays host to Premier League action for the first time in over a month, with Unai Emery's side aiming for a third-successive league win on the back of away triumphs over Brentford and Brighton either side of the international break.
The midweek victory at the Amex Stadium saw Villa win back-to-back away games in the league for the first time since August, meaning they enter this clash just four points outside the Premier League's top four.
Forest are enjoying a successful season themselves, currently sitting third in the league with eight games to play with, like Villa, an FA Cup semi-final tie at Wembley to look forward to this month.
Nuno Espírito Santo's side enter the affair with a healthy six-point buffer on Manchester City in fifth, as they go in search of Champions League football for 2025/26, while a strong run of form has seen them win their last three Premier League outings.
Stats
Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last eight home league games against Nottingham Forest (W5 D3) since a 2-0 loss in October 1994. They’ve scored at least twice in each of the last seven at Villa Park.
Following their 2-1 win at the City Ground in December, Nottingham Forest are looking to complete their first league double over Aston Villa since 1984/85.
Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last 14 home Premier League matches (W7 D7) since losing to Arsenal in August. Unai Emery has already had a 17-game unbeaten run at Villa Park between March and December 2023 and could be the first Villa manager since Ron Saunders in 1976/77 (18) and 1980/81 (15) to have two separate runs of 15 unbeaten top-flight home games.
Since May 2024, Nottingham Forest have won 10 of their 17 away Premier League matches (D2 L5) – that’s as many as they won in 74 away games in the competition between August 1996 and April 2024 combined (W10 D18 L46).
Since losing 2-0 to Arsenal in August, Aston Villa have avoided defeat in all seven home Premier League games when they’ve conceded first (W3 D4). It’s their most wins at Villa Park when conceding first in a single top-flight campaign since 2013/14 (3), and they’ve never done so four times in one Premier League season.
Aston Villa have had 225 shots in 15 Premier League matches at Villa Park this season, an average of 15.0 per game, their highest average in the competition since 2003/04 (15.5). Striker Ollie Watkins is averaging 4.1 shots per 90 minutes, the most by a Villa player with 500+ minutes played at home in the top-flight since Juan Pablo Ángel in 2003/04 (4.5).
Nottingham Forest’s away win Premier League win percentage this season is 54%, the first time it’s been above 50% in a top-flight season (P15 W8). Their away goals per game ratio (1.73) is their third best in a top-flight season, behind 1909/10 (1.84) and 1988/89 (1.74).
In all competitions, Aston Villa’s Marcus Rashford has been involved in seven goals in seven appearances against Nottingham Forest, all while playing for Manchester United (3 goals, 4 assists).
Across Aston Villa’s last three home games in all competitions, they’ve scored seven goals and six of them have been scored by Marco Asensio, netting a brace in each game against Chelsea, Cardiff and Club Brugge.
Chris Wood has scored three goals in six Premier League starts against Aston Villa, all of which came while playing for Burnley between 2019 and 2021. Away from home, he’s had a hand in 10 goals this season for Nottingham Forest (8 goals, 2 assists) with only Bryan Roy (6 goals, 5 assists in 1994/95) and Stan Collymore (9 goals, 4 assists in 1994/95) scoring and assisting more in a season.
The Last Meeting
Villa were narrowly beaten in a topsy-turvy affair at the City Ground in the last meeting between these two sides just before Christmas.
After a goalless first period, Jhon Durán's deft header put the Villans in front just after the hour mark, but then came the Forest surge, as Chris Wood's equaliser was ruled out for offside.
But into the final 10 minutes, Villa couldn't hold out any longer. Nikola Milenković's header dragged the hosts level with seven minutes to play, before Anthony Elanga smashed home in stoppage time to ensure Unai Emery's men would leave Nottingham empty-handed.
Team News
Leon Bailey will again be assessed ahead of the game, having missed both of Villa's two outings since the international break with a knock.
Unai Emery confirmed midfielder Ross Barkley is training with his team-mates and could potentially feature in the matchday squad at Villa Park, with the rest of the Villans' squad fit and available for selection in B6.
Forest will be without standout right-back Ola Aina, after he went off with a calf problem against Manchester United in midweek. Chris Wood also remains a doubt, having missed the game with a hip issue.
There is more positive news, however, for Callum Hudson-Odoi. The winger also missed the midweek clash at the City Ground, but Nuno Espírito Santo confirmed he would be back in the squad.
Youngster Eric da Silva Moreira is also injured, with Villa loanee Àlex Moreno ineligible against his parent club, meaning the visitors could have something of a headache at full-back this weekend.
Managers' Pre-Match Thoughts
“(I) Respect them a lot. Of course, after this respect, to analyse deeply how we can play tomorrow more or less trying to impose, to dominate, to play better than them, to get individual performances as better as possible.”
Unai Emery
“They are a very good team. They reinforced and balanced the squad in the January window but they have been improving since I joined here. They have talent and quality.”
Nuno Espírito Santo
