STAR FOOTBALL PREVIEW Thurs: Aston Villa v Nottm Forest

Nottingham Forest take a slender 1-0 advantage to Villa Park on Thursday night, with a place in the Europa League final in Istanbul up for grabs, writes JOE CITRONE.

Chris Wood’s second-half penalty – awarded after a VAR review for a Lucas Digne handball – was the difference at the City Ground last week in a tight, largely cautious affair.

Villa will feel it could easily have gone the other way, with Ollie Watkins going close and Emiliano Martínez producing a stunning stop to keep out Igor Jesus before the break.

STARSPORTS.BET FOOTBALL MARKETS

Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest
UEFA Europa League Semi-Final 2nd Leg
20:00 TNT Sports 1 / HBO Max

LAST FIVE STATS

HEAD-TO-HEAD
APR 2026 UEL Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa
APR 2026 PL Aston Villa 3-1 Nottingham Forest
FEB 2025 PL Nottingham Forest 1-1 Aston Villa
DEC 2024 PL Aston Villa 2-0 Nottingham Forest
NOV 2024 PL Nottingham Forest 0-2 Aston Villa

ASTON VILLA
MAY 2026 PL Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
APR 2026 UEL SF Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa
APR 2026 PL Brighton 2-1 Aston Villa
APR 2026 PL Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal
APR 2026 UEL QF Aston Villa 4-0 Bologna

NOTTINGHAM FOREST
MAY 2026 PL Chelsea 1-3 Nottingham Forest
APR 2026 UEL SF Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa
APR 2026 PL Nottingham Forest 2-0 Burnley
APR 2026 PL Brentford 0-1 Nottingham Forest
APR 2026 PL Nottingham Forest 1-0 Wolves

⭐ STARSPORTS.BET MATCH MARKETS ⭐

Villa have won all six of their home Europa League games this season and haven’t lost at Villa Park to Forest since 1994.

Unai Emery, the most successful manager in the history of this competition with four titles, will know exactly how to set his side up for a night like this.

Forest, though, are in terrific form under Vitor Pereira and Villa have hit a sticky run at just the wrong time of the season, and took a lot of flack for their lacklustre performance against Spurs at the weekend.

At 23/20 with starsports.bet, I like the look of a double-chance of Nottingham Forest or draw.

RECOMMENDED BETS
BACK Nottm Forest-draw double chance 2pts at 23/20 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)

(MAY 2026): PROFIT/LOSS: +4.05 points