Overview
Nottingham Forest are having a relatively impressive 2024-2025 Premier League campaign. After 15 rounds, coach Nuno Espirito Santo's team has 25 points and is ranked 5th on the rankings.
Although their form in the last 5 matches has been somewhat unstable with 3 losses, the home team at City Ground won a resounding 3-2 victory over Man United.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa have also been playing consistently this season. The Villa Park home team's record in the Premier League is almost identical to Nottingham. Villa are only behind their opponents due to a lower goal difference.
However, stability is the aspect that coach Unai Emery's team is better than Nottingham. They have lost only once in the past 6 matches and won all 3 of their recent matches. Aston Villa beat Brentford, Southampton in the Premier League and most recently won RB Leipzig with a dramatic score of 3-2 in the Champions League.
Confidence is brimming over Emery's side and they will head into this Midlands derby looking to edge past their hosts with another win.
In terms of head-to-head record, Aston Villa also have a slight advantage over Nottingham. In the last 8 encounters, the Villa Park team has won 5 matches and lost only 1. However, that defeat happened last season, when Nottingham Forest won 2-0.
Human resources situation
Jacob Ramsey remains absent for Aston Villa, while Leon Bailey remains a doubt after sitting out the win over Leipzig. Emery is likely to make a few changes to refresh his side after a gruelling Champions League campaign.
Nottingham are likely to retain the same squad that won at Old Trafford, with midfielders Danilo and Ibrahim Sangare the only absentees for the hosts.
Expected lineup:
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Murillo, Williams, Milenkovic, Aina, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi, J. Silva, Yates, Wood.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Carlos, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen, McGinn, Tielemans, Rogers, Philogene, Kamara, Duran.
The match between Nottingham and Aston Villa takes place at 0:30 am on December 15 (Vietnam time).
