Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa

City Ground is the venue as Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa go head-to-head in an exciting Premier League match-up.

No matter the outcome, Saturday will be a landmark occasion for Nottingham Forest as they’ll become only the 12th team in English Football League history to contest 5,000 matches. They’ll enter the game in high spirits after bouncing back from a 3-0 rout at Manchester City with an outstanding 3-2 win at Manchester United, soaring to fifth in the Premier League standings. No one can dispute Forest’s candidacy for a European finish anymore, though there’s still ample room for improvement. Nuno Espirito Santo’s men face a Villa side they’ve only defeated once in their last 11 Premier League encounters (D5, L5) but can draw confidence from winning three of their four home league outings without conceding since the start of October (L1). 

Meanwhile, Aston Villa continued their notable form resurgence after eight consecutive winless matches (D3, L5) with a precious 3-2 away win against RB Leipzig in midweek UEFA Champions League action. Unai Emery’s men have won their last three games in all competitions, including two in the Premier League. However, the Lions have stuttered on their league travels, losing three successive away league games by at least a two-goal margin while failing to score in the last two. That hardly makes for good reading ahead of their trip to the City Ground, where they haven’t beaten Forest in the Premier League since 1995 (D1, L4), including a 2-0 defeat in this corresponding fixture last term.