Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest

Villa Park is the venue as Premier League top-half hopefuls Aston Villa and downtrodden Nottingham Forest face each other in contrasting moods.

Aston Villa left it late to beat season-long relegation candidates Leicester City 2-1 in midweek Premier League action, taking their impressive unbeaten league run to six matches (W5, D1). Having moved to seventh in the standings, five points clear of tenth-placed Fulham, the ‘Lions’ could be on the verge of a first top-half finish in the Premier League since 2010/11. The impending return to Villa Park will only increase their confidence after winning their last two home league matches ‘to nil.’ The continuation of that run would see Villa put together three consecutive home wins during a single Premier League season for the first time since 2007! And Forest could be the perfect victim, considering Unai Emery’s men have only lost one of their last 14 league H2Hs (W6, D7).

In the meantime, visiting Nottingham Forest seem to be contemplating the prospect of sacking long-serving manager Steve Cooper after a dismal 2-1 defeat at fellow relegation rivals Leeds United last time out condemned them to an eighth straight Premier League game without a win (D3, L5). Despite an impressive effort at the turn of the year, the ‘Tricky Trees’ are in the relegation mix again, stuck level on points with 18th-placed Bournemouth at the start of this round. Things may soon go from bad to worse, considering the visitors are the league’s worst away side by some margin, having picked up just six points from 14 top-flight travels this season (W1, D3, L10). A lack of firepower has seen Forest score a league-low five goals across those 14 matches, at an average of 0.35 per game. On top of that, they’re winless in their last nine Premier League away clashes against sides from the Midlands (D2, L7).