The City Ground hosts Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, as the two English Premier League sides meet for the first leg of their UEFA Europa League semi-final.

It will be first time since 2009 that two English sides have met in a major European Semi-Final when these two former European champions clash on Thursday night.

New boss Vitor Pereira has steered Nottingham Forest away from danger in the Premier League, with them now five points clear of the bottom three.

They will arrive at this game off the back of a resounding 5-0 victory away to Sunderland, which was the latest of eight matches in which Forest haven’t lost a game.

Thursday’s hosts narrowly defeated Porto to reach this stage of the tournament, where they will take on the Europa League’s most successful manager.

Unai Emery is on course to deliver Champions League football to Villa Park once again, whether it be through winning this competition or their position in the Premier League table.

Villa succumbed to Fulham at the weekend, though remain fifth in the Premier League table – eight points clear of sixth-placed Brighton – with only four games to play.

The Villains will make the short journey up the M1 after they comfortably defeated Bologna in the previous round of the tournament.

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What are the best bets for Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa?

This sounds very cliche, but it is very true when I say that this game could go either way.

These two sides drew 1-1 when they met a few weeks ago, but having said that, league form goes out the window in domestic cup games – let alone a European Semi-Final between two of England’s biggest clubs.

Forest are in form and will be facing a fragile Villa side – who almost forfeited a two goal lead to lose to Sunderland before they did actually lose to Fulham.

My tentative selection is Nottingham Forest to win this game and to make Aston Villa work for their place in the final, in next week’s second leg.

I do think that Aston Villa will find the net at least once and it will likely come through Ollie Watkins – who has bagged four Europa League goals for them this season.

For a bit more value, Elliot Anderson is one of the most fouled players in the Premier League, so take him to be on the end of a poor challenge at least twice.

Where can I watch Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa?

In the US, this match is available to watch on CBS Sports Network, Paramount+, Fubo TV, TUDN USA, DAZN USA, UniMas, Univision and ViX. Kick off is at 15:00 on Thursday, April 30.

In the UK, this match is available to watch on TNT Sports. Kick off is at 20:00 BST.

What is Nottingham Forest’s current form?

D-D-W-W-W

What is Aston Villa’s current form?

W-D-W-W-L

What were the results of the latest five head-to-head matches between Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa?

12/04/26 – Nottingham Forest 1-1 Aston Villa (EPL)

03/01/26 – Aston Villa 3-1 Nottingham Forest (EPL)

05/04/25 – Aston Villa 2-1 Nottingham Forest (EPL)

14/12/24 – Nottingham Forest 2-1 Aston Villa (EPL)

24/02/24 – Aston Villa 4-2 Nottingham Forest (EPL)

What is Nottingham Forest’s predicted team?

Ortega – Aina, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams – Sangare, Anderson – Hutchinson, Gibbs-White, Ndoye – Jesus

Injured: Murillo, Hudson-Odoi, Boly, Savona, Victor

Doubt: None

What is Aston Villa’s predicted team?

Martinez – Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne – Onana, Tielemans – Buendia, McGinn, Rogers – Watkins

Injured: Edward, Kamara

Doubt: None