Aston Villa is set to travel to the City Ground to face off against Nottingham Forest in the Europa League semi-final in the midweek.

 Aston Villa enters their crucial stage of the season and begins their mission to end their title drought by taking on Nottingham Forest on the road on Thursday in the semi-final. Both sides are aiming to win the continental title again after each won the European Cup, the old name of the Champions League, in the early 1980s.

 For Villa, the trip to The Tricky Trees’ home turf is tricky indeed considering their last encounters just two weeks ago. Their unexpected loss in the last outing only makes it worse.

Their opposition side, in contrast, have been unbeaten in the past eight games in all competitions. Morgan Gibbs-White and Co even had more convincing form in their last Premier League games. This is what the Lions should worry about.

The lack of clinical finish

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has underlined his concern on his team’s lack of clinical finishing strike for their golden chances. At Craven Cottage, the Spanish manager mentioned how they wasted their four opportunities to score, which could have kept them in fourth position, instead of going down in the standings.

 He also mentioned how such mistakes were already made in Nottingham two weeks ago in the Premier League clash. Those blunders cost points which must not happen again in their next game.

 In the decisive important game, as the semifinal later, being wasteful in their clear chance would only display how unprepared they are in big games. As in big moments like that, sometimes the winner takes the advantage by a fine margin from their opposition side. That is why being clinical in the big game is a must.

Team News

Aston Villa currently have a slight crisis in the defensive midfielder position. Boubacar Kamara and Amadou Onana have suffered injuries which would keep them on the sideline in this game. In the league, Emery would still have Rose Barkley to fill the void. Sadly, he has been omitted from the Europa League squad.

 Thus, Emery will be short of options in this position. Lamare Bogarde will be the only available name left to play. He was deployed in the same position last weekend but did not seem to have convincing form. So, he might not drop from the starting XI against the solid midfield of the Tricky Trees.

 In this important match, Emery could be getting creative a bit by deploying either Tyrone Mings or Victor Lindelof in that position, and then, when necessary, the regular 4-2-3-1 formation can be switched to a 3-4-2-1 formation.

 So, Martinez in goal would not change, then Pau Torres, Ezri Konsa at the centre, and Cash and Digne or Maatsen on the flank. If Mings or Lindelof accompanies Tielemans, then Douglas Luiz could get a nod as the attacking midfielder. On both wings, the skipper McGinn and Rogers will be supporting Watkins on the frontline.skippers

 Where to watch Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa

The Fulham v Aston Villa encounter will be available on TNT Sports 1 as well as live streaming. The fans can also enjoy this game on HBO Max.

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