Preview: Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest - prediction, team news, lineups

Mourning the loss of their magnificent 11-game winning run, Aston Villa return to Villa Park for Saturday's lunchtime Premier League date with Nottingham Forest.

The Lions lost their bite in a 4-1 hammering at the hands of Arsenal in midweek, while the Tricky Trees closed out 2025 with a disappointing home defeat to Everton.

Match preview

Hindsight is a wonderful thing; one cannot help but wonder how Arsenal vs. Villa would have turned out had Ollie Watkins buried that golden first-half chance, a glaring miss that proved to be oh so costly at the Emirates Stadium.

Indeed, Unai Emery's former employers ran riot in the second half as Gabriel Magalhaes, Martin Zubimendi, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus all helped themselves to goals, before Watkins lashed in a last-gasp consolation to at least wipe out Arsenal's clean sheet.

The Englishman's strike proved trivial in a game then partially overshadowed by Emery's Mikel Arteta snub; the Spaniard hit out at his Gunners successor for celebrating before the customary manager's handshake, leaving his fellow Spaniard perplexed at his touchline absence.

Despite losing for the first time since November 1, the Villans remain comfortably clear of Liverpool in third place in the Premier League table, and their stellar home run remains unbroken.

Emery's men have strung together a sensational 10-match winning sequence at Villa Park, and victory on Saturday would represent a 36-year best for the home side, who have not prevailed in 11 straight games in front of their own fans since 1990.

Also ending 2025 on a sour note, ex-Everton boss Sean Dyche experienced another dose of Toffees-inflicted misery in gameweek 18, when David Moyes's men followed up their 3-0 home success with a 2-0 City Ground triumph.

James Garner and Thierno Barry breached the Tricky Trees' net to prolong Dyche's dreary December sequence, as Forest ended the calendar year with three straight defeats to Everton, Manchester City and Fulham, scoring just one goal in that time.

Thanks to their four-point advantage over West Ham United, Dyche's men will at least end gameweek 20 outside of the drop zone no matter what transpires in the West Midlands, but the 54-year-old's praiseworthy work is nowhere near done.

The New Year has often been a happy one for Forest fans in recent times, though, as the Garibaldi have managed five wins from their last seven opening matches of a calendar year, suffering only one loss in that time to Brentford.

However, Nuno Espirito Santo's Forest were bested 2-1 by Villa in this fixture last year, leaving the Tricky Trees winless in six Premier League games at Villa Park, where they have not come out on the correct end of the scoreline since 1994.

Aston Villa Premier League form:

Aston Villa form (all competitions):

Nottingham Forest Premier League form:

Nottingham Forest form (all competitions):

Team News

Villa rued the absences of right-back Matty Cash and central midfielder Boubacar Kamara through suspension against Arsenal, but Emery's two fundamental cogs have served their yellow-card bans and will return to the XI on Saturday.

Cash ought to be a straight swap for Lamare Bogarde at right-back, while Kamara will also be a like-for-like change for Amadou Onana in the middle after the Belgian came off with a tight hamstring in North London.

Onana's status for the weekend is up in the air, and the same goes for Tyrone Mings (thigh) and Pau Torres (calf), but Evann Guessand (AFCON) and Ross Barkley (knee) are unavailable for the hosts.

Meanwhile, Forest came out of their loss to Everton unscathed on the injury front, and there is some optimism that Swiss attacker Dan Ndoye will be back from his minor unspecified issue.

However, Ola Aina and Ryan Yates's thigh problems will take a bit longer to heal, while Chris Wood (knee), Willy Boly and Ibrahim Sangare (AFCON) are also missing for the visitors.

Dyche's in-game alterations did not make the desired impact against Everton, so the away side should still put out a similar XI to their most recent defeat, although Nicolo Savona should threaten Oleksandr Zinchenko's spot.

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:

Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen; Kamara, Tielemans; McGinn, Rogers, Malen; Watkins

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:

Victor; Savona, Murillo, Milenkovic, Williams; Anderson, Dominguez; Hutchinson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Jesus

We say: Aston Villa 2-0 Nottingham Forest

The attacking metrics make for grim reading for Forest, who have failed to score in 10 different Premier League games this season, more than any other team.

Ten could become 11 against a Villa side out to right some midweek wrongs, and the Villa Park factor should also play its part as Emery's men return to winning ways.

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