Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is not expecting Nottingham Forest to maintain their free-scoring form against his side in the Europa League semi-finals tomorrow night.
Forest have given their hopes of escaping relegation from Premier League a significant boost over the past fortnight with resounding wins over Burnley (4-1) and Sunderland (5-0).
Villa, therefore, could be forgiven for making the short trip to the City Ground with a sense of trepidation but Emery is confident his side will be able to cope with Forest’s attacking threat.
He said: “I don’t expect it to be easy because Nottingham Forest are playing with confidence and are very competitive. Maybe they feel they can get an advantage, as they have scored nine goals in two matches.
“But I expect us to be competitive tomorrow, to try to dominate, and to stop their attack and set pieces. I think both teams will need the second leg, and we are expecting a tight result.”
Emery is a Europa League specialist having won the trophy four times during his career and, although this is an all-Premier League joust, he says the context makes it a different proposition to a regular domestic fixture.
“We will play two legs and, of course, the first 90 minutes are very important, but we will still have the second leg to play,” he added.
“When you are playing in the Premier League, the matches may seem the same, but they are different in terms of how you manage the momentum – even between the first half of the first leg and the second half of the second leg.”
It has been a turbulent season for Forest and they are now on their fourth head coach. Vitor Pereira appears to have brought some consistency on the banks of the Trent, though, following the reigns of Nuno Espírito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche.
A subtle tweak in formation that has pushed Morgan Gibbs-White into a wider position has reaped huge benefits with the England international scoring four goals in his last two games.
Team news for Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa
Defender Jair Cunha has returned to training after being forced off in the win at Sunderland on Friday night. Ibrahima Sangare and Dan Ndoye are doubts while Murillo, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Nicola Savona and John Victor are all definitely out.
Villa face an anxious wait to see if Amadou Onana is fit after missing the weekend defeat at Fulham due to a minor knee injury. Ross Barkley is ineligible after not being included in the Europa League squad submitted to UEFA for the knockout stages.
