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Nuno Espírito Santo speaks to Sky. “It will be very difficult … Villa is a very good team … we expect a very tough match … unfortunately both [Chris Wood and Taiwo Awoniyi] are out so we have to try to find solutions.”
Unai Emery talks to Sky Sports. “Good afternoon … we did changes in Brighton and Brentford and won there … I believe in the players … they are ready to play … the good news in the squad now is we can have recovering players.”
Should Forest win tonight, they’d complete their first league double over Villa since the 1984-85 Canon League First Division. Forest won this fixture 5-0 that season, Trevor Christie with a hat-trick, Ian Bowyer and Steve Hodge with the other goals. Anyway, here’s what happened at the City Ground earlier this season.
Here’s how the Premier League table looks after these results …
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Crystal Palace 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
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Everton 1-1 Arsenal
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Ipswich Town 1-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
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West Ham United 2-2 Bournemouth
This evening’s game represents an opportunity for Nottingham Forest to close the gap on Arsenal to three points. Second place far from a pipe dream now, especially with Mikel Arteta’s side preoccupied with the Champions League. Villa also have one eye on Europe, but they’ll still want to secure participation for next season via a top-five finish, so closing in Manchester City would help with that.
Aston Villa, who have won their last six matches in all competitions, make eight changes to their starting XI after the 3-0 win at Brighton & Hove Albion. Wednesday’s trip to PSG clearly uppermost in mind. Only Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans and Emiliano Martínez, the latter captain for the day, keep their places. Tyrone Mings, Andrés García, Axel Disasi, Ian Maatsen, Amadou Onana, Donyell Malen, Ollie Watkins and Marco Asensio step up; John McGinn, Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Lucas Digne, Pau Torres, Jacob Ramsey, Boubacar Kamara and Marcus Rashford drop to the bench.
Nottingham Forest, unbeaten in six, make three changes to the team that started the 1-0 victory over Manchester United. Callum Hudson-Odoi, Morato and Nicolás Domínguez are in; Danilo drops to the bench while Taiwo Awoniyi and the injured Ola Aina miss out altogether. Leading scorer Chris Wood is still absent with a hip problem.
The teams
Aston Villa: Martinez, Garcia, Disasi, Mings, Maatsen, Onana, Tielemans, Malen, Asensio, Rogers, Watkins.
Subs: Olsen, Cash, Konsa, McGinn, Rashford, Digne, Torres, Ramsey, Kamara.
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Morato, Yates, Anderson, Dominguez, Gibbs-White, Elanga, Hudson-Odoi.
Subs: Carlos Miguel, Sangare, Toffolo, Moreira, Jota Silva, Sosa, Danilo, Boly, Abbott.
Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).
Preamble
A world in which Villa and Forest are two of the best teams around? ATV should never have lost its licence. Kick-off is at 5.30pm BST. It’s on!
