Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Two historic sides meet at the City Ground with both Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa sharing an identical Premier League record of seven wins, four draws and four defeats after 15 games.
Kick-off date/time: Saturday 14th December, 2024: UK – 5:30pm / US ET – 12:30pm / US PT – 9:30am
How to watch on TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – NBC
How to watch online: UK – Sky Go / US – nbc.com
Nottingham Forest Preview: Still prospering
Despite the fact they have lost three of their last five Premier League games, Nottingham Forest are still flying high in the table and are in fifth place heading into the weekend's fixtures, above the likes of Man Utd, Tottenham, Newcastle and Saturday's opponents Aston Villa.
It was Man Utd who they defeated last weekend in fact, with Nuno Espirito Santo's men recording a 2-3 victory at Old Trafford thanks to goals from Nikola Milenkovic, Morgan Gibbs-White and top scorer Chris Wood.
Aston Villa Preview: Back on track
Unai Emery has steadied the ship at Aston Villa, as after going on an eight-game winless run in all competitions, they have now won their last three and are level on points with Forest ahead of this fixture.
After a hard-fought 1-0 victory over bottom-side Southampton last weekend, Villa got back to winning ways in the Champions League on Tuesday with an entertaining 2-3 victory at Leipzig to move up to fifth in that competition.
Nottingham Forest Team News: Moreno cannot play
Alex Moreno is ineligible to feature against his parent club, which should see Neco Williams occupy the left-back role for the second game running. Danilo and Ibrahim Sangare, meanwhile, are still out.
Jota Silva has impressed on the right-wing lately but Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ramon Sosa are waiting in the wings should Nuno wish to change things up in attack.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Anderson, Yates; Jota Silva, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood
Unavailable: Moreno (Ineligible), Danilo (Injured), Sangare (Injured)
Questionable:
Aston Villa Team News: Watkins uncertainty
Ollie Watkins is a doubt after he went off at half-time against Leipzig, which could pave the way for Jhon Duran - who scored against the German side - to start for a second Premier League game in a row.
Leon Bailey also needs to be assessed, while Jacob Ramsey is definitely out.
Predicted XI (4-4-1-1): Martinez; Konsa, Mings, Torres, Digne; Cash, Kamara, Tielemans McGinn; Rogers; Duran
Unavailable: Ramsey (Injured)
Questionable: Bailey (Injured), Watkins (Injured)
Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa Prediction
Although Aston Villa have experienced an upturn in results lately, they have often struggled in the Premier League match directly following a Champions League fixture. Indeed, they have only won once in the five previous examples this season. This is when their relatively lightweight squad catches up with them, and against a Forest side who have been one of the surprise packages this season, they could come undone again.
With this factor in mind, consider draw no bet on the hosts.
Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa Tip: Nottingham Forest draw no bet
