Aston Villa face Nottingham Forest in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final with Unai Emery’s men under huge pressure to turn the tie around following their performance in the Premier League last time out.
Villa were beaten 1-0 by Forest at the City Ground in the first leg as Chris Wood’s penalty gave Vitor Pereira’s side the advantage in the tie.
Emery subsequently made the decision to rest several key players against Tottenham on Sunday, but saw that move backfire spectacularly as Villa produced a dreadful performance in a 2-1 defeat to relegation-threatened Spurs.
Pereira, whose side are not yet safe from relegation, arguably took an even bigger gamble in resting eight players for their trip to Chelsea.
However, his much-changed side were dominant against the Blues, surging to a 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge to move six points clear of the bottom three with three games to play.
As such, they will surely make the short trip to Villa in confident mood, though there is doubt around the availability of in-form forward Morgan Gibbs-White following the cut he sustained in a collision with Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
Forest are seeking to reach the final of a major competition for the first time since the 1992 EFL Cup final, which they lost to Manchester United.
Villa lost the final of the same competition in 2020, suffering a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City. Their last major trophy came in the EFL Cup in 1996, and they have endured great frustration in their efforts to end that drought in recent years, losing in the semi-finals of the Conference League and last season’s FA Cup under Emery.
“Do you hear it (the criticism)? The answer would be no,” captain John McGinn said in quotes reported by the Express and Star about Villa’s performances on the biggest occasions.
“But you feel it yourself. You have pride and you want to take that step, we all want to take the step we know we are missing.
“In 20 to 25 years time will we have pride for taking Aston Villa from the Championship to the top stages of the Premier League? Of course we will.
“But will that be forgotten about when we leave? 100 per cent. The club will continue to build.
“We want to be a team that is remembered for winning silverware. Does that come with pressure because you missed out previously? Probably, aye.
“But there is always pressure playing for Aston Villa and that is no different.
“Are we aware of it? Of course we are. It makes us more determined to go and take one step further.
“If there are critics, it would probably be deserved. But there is nothing better in football – and I say it all the time – than proving people wrong.
“People will have doubts until we take that step. There are only 16 people on Thursday night who can change it.”
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Team news for Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest
McGinn should return from a muscle injury that kept him out of the loss to Tottenham, but Amadou Onana is a doubt with a calf strain.
Boubacar Kamara remains out with a knee injury, and Ross Barkley is ineligible.
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