This Midlands derby sees two teams back to winning ways squaring off as Aston Villa host Nottingham Forest at Villa Park on Saturday.
WATCH ASTON VILLA v NOTTINGHAM FOREST LIVE
Unai Emery’s Villa won 2-1 at Fulham last weekend and are in the top four and totally deserve to be there. After a wobble in recent weeks they were back to their clinical best against Fulham with Ollie Watkins bagging both goals and he’s chasing down Erling Haaland for the Premier League Golden Boot award. Villa have Europa Conference knockout round games to juggle with PL action soon but they’re in the driving seat to finish fourth and the favorites to win the Conference League. What a time to be a Villa fan.
Nottingham Forest are looking good too as they beat West Ham 2-0 at home last weekend to give themselves some breathing space above the bottom three as they’re currently four points above the relegation zone. Having Taiwo Awoniyi, Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi back fit has made a huge difference as Awoniyi and Hudson-Odoi were on the scoresheet last weekend and the latter has scored in each of his last three league appearances for Forest. Nuno Espirito Santo has the added bonus of Boly, Aina and Sangare being back from AFCON duty which boosts his defensive options considerably.
How to watch Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest live, stream link and start time
Kick off: 10am ET, Saturday (February 24)
TV Channel: USA Network
Online: Watch online via NBC.com
Aston Villa team news, focus
Emery has kept his Villa side in the Champions League hunt despite big defensive injuries popping up throughout the season. Kamara and Konsa are the latest to go down but Villa are finding a way to get it done and having Watkins back scoring, plus Leon Bailey back to his best, gives them a cutting edge.
OUT: Boubacar Kamara (torn ACL – out for season), Diego Carlos (hamstring), Emiliano Buendia (torn ACL – out for season), Tyrone Mings (torn ACL), Jhon Duran (undisclosed), Ezri Konsa (knee)
Nottingham Forest team news, focus
It will be intriguing to see how Forest get on now they’re almost back to full strength. The players they have are well-suited to the style Nuno wants to play and they’ll sit deep, soak up pressure and look to hit Villa on the counter. If they get it right and play the ball off Awoniyi and get Elanga and Hudson-Odoi involved they will cause Villa plenty of problems.
OUT: Chris Wood (thigh), Gonzalo Montiel (thigh)