Aston Villa host Nottingham Forest at Villa Park in the Premier League as they continue their quest for Champions League football.
Unai Emery's side were victorious in West London last week as they defeated Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage. Ollie Watkins scored a brace and despite Rodrigo Muniz's response just after the hour-mark he could not inspire the Cottagers to a comeback. The victory coupled with the midweek results have Villa fourth in the standings and currently occupying the fourth and final Champions League spot, with a two-point gap over Spurs.
Forest were victorious against West Ham last weekend at the City Ground, beating the Hammers 2-0 courtesy of goals from Taiwo Awoniyi and Callum Hudson-Odoi. Nuno Espirito Santos' men are now 16th and four points above the relegation zone.
Forest got the better of Villa the last time these two sides met which was back in November. Welshman Steve Cooper was still in charge of the Reds then and his side won courtesy of efforts from Ola Aina and Orel Mangala.
Villa have reasons to be confident as against Forest they have lost just one of their last 14 league games against them and are unbeaten in seven since a 2-0 loss in October 1994. Forest are aiming for a league double over Villa for the first time since 1984. Villa's home form will be key as to what they do and having been unbeaten for 17-home matches they have lost their last two, and so the last time they lost three in a row was in November 2020 under Dean Smith.
Over the month of February, Villa have been dealt numerous injury problems but they are just getting on with it. Boubacar Kamara's season was brought to an end after an ACL injury whilst Ezri Konsa's injury has meant that they are down to just two senior centre-backs. As for Nottingham Forest, a lot of their players were at the Africa Cup of Nations and performed well, but now they are back and in contention to return at the weekend.
Here's the latest injury and team news ahead of the match at Villa Park. BirminghamWorld will be in attendance to bring you player ratings and post-match reaction from both managers.
1. Boubacar Kamara - out
Suffered an ACL injury after playing in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United just over a week ago.
2. Boubacar Kamara - out (continued)
Unai Emery said on Feb 16: 'His injury is an ACL, and he's going to be out for the rest of the season. Maybe, more or less, in September or October, he is coming back.'
3. Emi Buendia - out
Suffered a knee injury before the 2023/24 campaign began. Not expected to return this season.
4. Tyrone Mings - out
Suffered a knee injury against Newcastle United in their first league game. Out for the season despite making positive strides in his recovery.