Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa Prediction: Europa League final precursor?

A potential precursor to the Europa League final? Potentially, after Villa won the first leg of their quarter-final 3-1 against Bologna, and Nottingham Forest fortuitously drew 1-1 with Porto away from home. 

However, these two must turn their attention back to the Premier League as they meet on Sunday afternoon (14:00 BST, Sky Sports Premier League). Below you can find my Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa predictions featuring team news and more.

Team News

After making nine changes for the midweek draw at Porto, we can expect Vitor Pereira to revert back to something like the team that beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 prior to the international break. 

Igor Jesus should start up top in place of Chris Wood, while Morgan Gibbs-White should keep his spot in the XI as creative midfielder. Elsewhere, Matz Sels should return in goal, along with the likes of Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic and Neco Williams.

Unai Emery by contrast named a near full-strength XI as his side won in Italy, with the back four of Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne likely to keep their places, along with goalkeeper Emi Martinez.

John McGinn and Morgan Rogers should feature in midfield but Jadon Sancho has suffered a shoulder injury and so Emi Buendia should start again out wide. 

Premier League Odds

Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa Odds

Nottingham Forest are priced at 8/5 to win this game, with Aston Villa available at 13/8. A draw is 5/2, over 2.5 goals is 10/11 and BTTS is 8/11.

In the first goalscorer market, Wood and Ollie Watkins are both 11/2.

Draw and BTTS @ 10/3

Two picks combined into one at a big price to kick us off here. I think there are plenty of goals in this game, with Villa only failing to score once in their last 11 outings - surprisingly at Wolves. Watkins and Rogers possess a lot of quality, while Forest haven’t been shy in front of goal recently either, scoring six in their last three in all competitions. 

I think BTTS is a good pick, but I’ll pair that up with a draw in the match result market. Although Villa sit in fourth, they have only won one of their last five Premier League matches, while Forest have certainly improved, picking up five points from their last three league games - including that 2-2 draw away at Manchester City. 

With European commitments either side of this clash, a draw feels like the most likely outcome.

Ollie Watkins to score anytime @ 15/8

Watkins was left out of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad recently and it seems as though that has motivated him to kick on and prove himself to the England manager.

"Watkins is not with us but this is more down to the fact that I know what he can bring to the group - I know him very well," Tuchel said during the squad announcement, but Watkins has responded perfectly.

He scored against West Ham in the final game before the break and then returned with two goals against Bologna in midweek. 

"It's the back end of the season and I'm raring to go," Watkins told TNT Sports. "I could play another 90 minutes. I'm excited for the next few games. I'm hungry."

That is the sign of a man who looks set to kick on. Let’s back him to find the net against Forest on Sunday. 

Today's Football Fixtures

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