Fixtures
- Aston Villa Vs. Nottingham Forest – Sat, Feb 24th 2024, 15:00
At A Glance
Aston Villa host Nottingham Forest at Villa Park on Saturday as they look to get back to winning ways on home turf.
A club record run of 17 home league games unbeaten has been followed by three consecutive losses in B6, two in the top flight and one to Chelsea in the FA Cup.
Unai Emery’s team head into the game fourth in the table following a 2-0 away day success at Fulham last time out.
Forest are sat in 16th place and battling at the other end of the league, sitting four points above the relegation zone.
The Reds arrive at Villa Park fresh from picking up their first Premier League win of 2024.
A 2-0 success against West Ham United at The City Ground last weekend came courtesy of goals from Callum Hudson-Odoi and Taiwo Awoniyi.
Standout Stats
Nottingham Forest won the reverse fixture 2-0 in November and can beat Aston Villa home and away in the same season for the first time since 1984-85.
Villa are unbeaten in seven home league games against Forest, with their only defeat in the past 14 encounters at Villa Park coming in October 1994.
Five of Forest’s six Premier League wins this season were against teams currently in the top half of the table. The only side with a better record is Aston Villa, with six victories.
Villa’s tally of 49 points is their second highest after 25 matches of a Premier League season; they had 51 at this stage in 2008-09 but won only two of their remaining 13 league fixtures.
Forest have won three of their eight league matches under Nuno Espirito Santo, as many as they managed in 17 attempts under Steve Cooper this season.
Villa have amassed 30 wins, 98 points and 92 goals from their 50 league games under Unai Emery.
The Reds have only registered three victories in 31 Premier League away fixtures since returning to the top flight in 2022 (D8, L20).
The home side’s solitary defeat in 14 Premier League fixtures this season against teams currently in the bottom half of the table came away at Nottingham Forest in November (W9, D4).
Callum Hudson-Odoi can become the third player to score in at least four consecutive Premier League games for Forest, emulating Taiwo Awoniyi and Stan Collymore.
Villa’s tally of 52 league goals this season is already one more than they managed in the entirety of 2022-23.
Espírito Santo has won three of his five Premier League matches as a manager versus Aston Villa, keeping a clean sheet in both visits to Villa Park with Wolves.
Ollie Watkins has scored 13 Premier League goals in 2023-24, the most by a Villa player after 25 games of a season.
The Last Meeting
Villa endured a frustrating afternoon at The City Ground back in November, losing 2-0 to The Reds.
The visitors were on top for large spells but conceded early in each half to hand the home side victory.
Ola Aina fired in the first goal and Orel Mangala netted in the second half to make it an away day to forget.
Team News
Unai Emery has no new injury concerns ahead of the game, with a number of players still sidelined.
Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos, Jhon Duran Boubacar Kamara, Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendia are all out.
Nottingham Forest remain without Chris Wood and injured Africa Cup of Nations finalists Ola Aina, Willy Boly and Ibrahim Sangare.
Defender Gonzalo Montiel is back in training after a hamstring problem.
The Boss
“I respect them a lot – their coach and players. They were very, very competitive before when we played there (The City Ground) and they won. They are still being very, very competitive, with fresh energy from the new coach. He’s an experienced coach and tactically very good. They are very intense and confident after they won last week against West Ham. We are ready to play tomorrow and very excited to be playing again with our supporters in Villa Park.” – Unai Emery
