Aston Villa

vs

Nottingham Forest

Injuries & Suspensions

• Aston Villa: Alysson (Muscle Injury), R. Barkley (Inactive), B. Kamara (Knee Injury), B. Madjo (Inactive), J. McGinn (Hamstring Injury), A. Onana (Injury)
• Nottingham Forest: Z. Abbott (Concussion), T. Awoniyi (Inactive), W. Boly (Knee Injury), M. Gibbs-White (Head Injury), C. Hudson-Odoi (Injury), John Victor (Knee Injury)

Form (Last 5)

• Home: W W W W L
• Away: L W D W W

H2H (Last 5)

• 2026-04-30 · Nottingham Forest · 1-0 · Aston Villa
• 2026-04-12 · Nottingham Forest · 1-1 · Aston Villa
• 2026-01-03 · Aston Villa · 3-1 · Nottingham Forest
• 2025-04-05 · Aston Villa · 2-1 · Nottingham Forest
• 2024-12-14 · Nottingham Forest · 2-1 · Aston Villa

Match Preview

Villa's superior form, home advantage and Nottingham absences tilt tie back toward Villa despite Forest's 1-0 first-leg lead.

Key Notes

Aston Villa come into this return leg with clear momentum at home. Their recent record reads 11 wins, 2 losses - a strong run that underlines consistency and goalscoring at Villa Park. The Europa League standings also show Aston Villa near the top, reinforcing they’ve performed well across the competition.

Nottingham Forest won the first leg 1-0 away, so Villa must overturn a slim deficit. The semi-final first-leg result matters, but Villa have the home crowd and the form to press. Key absences are a factor: Aston Villa will be without Alysson (muscle injury), Ross Barkley (inactive) and Boubacar Kamara (knee injury); John McGinn and André Onana are listed as questionable. Those midfield absences weaken Villa’s depth, but the core attacking group has been productive this season and should still pose problems for Forest’s defence.

Nottingham Forest arrive with notable setbacks. Taiwo Awoniyi is inactive and Z. Abbott is missing with concussion - both reduce Forest’s attacking options and chance creation, which is critical on the road when needing to protect a narrow aggregate lead. Forest’s away form has been respectable overall, but losing attacking reinforcements for a tie where they must defend a lead blunts their threat.

Head-to-head shows the tight nature of recent meetings: Villa beat Forest at home earlier in the season, but lost the first leg in the semi-final 1-0. That suggests the tie is finely balanced, yet Villa’s superior home form and squad quality edge them into favourites to progress. Prediction: Aston Villa to win the match and take control of the tie at Villa Park.

Prediction

Aston Villa win • Odds 1.80 • Confidence 7/10