[Pre-Match Thread] Aston Villa vs. Nottingham Forest

Aston Villa vs. Nottingham Forest

Competition: Premier League – Round 20

Date: Sat 03 Jan 2026

Kickoff: 12:30

Venue: Villa Park

Referee: Simon Hooper

Aston Villa Statistics (all competitions)

Form: WWWWL

Goals per match: 1.6

Average Possession: 53.6%

Goals conceded per match: 1.2

Pass Accuracy: 85.6%

Shots per game: 11.8

Tackles per game: 14.9

Clean Sheets: 8

Nottingham Forest Statistics (all competitions)

Form: WWLLL

Goals per match: 1.1

Average Possession: 52.4%

Goals conceded per match: 1.6

Pass Accuracy: 84.4%

Shots per game: 13.5

Tackles per game: 13.5

Clean Sheets: 6

Aston Villa Team News

• Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara return for Aston Villa’s clash against Nottingham Forest, although Amadou Onana has been ruled out of Saturday’s Premier League encounter.

• Right-back Cash and midfielder Kamara both missed Tuesday’s defeat at leaders Arsenal as they served one-match suspensions, but the pair return to face Forest.

• Onana misses out at Villa Park, however, having been forced off due to injury at half-time against the Gunners.

• Evann Guessand is on international duty with Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations and is unavailable, as is January signing Alysson following his arrival on New Year’s Day.

• Defensive duo Pau Torres and Tyrone Mings, as well as midfielder Ross Barkley, also remain sidelined for the lunchtime kick-off (12.30pm).

Nottingham Forest Team News

• Nottingham Forest defender Ola Aina is in contention to make his return from injury against Aston Villa on Saturday. The defender has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since September 9.

• Both Ryan Yates and Chris Wood remain sidelined with hamstring and knee injuries, respectively.

• Dan Ndoye is also out of the clash against Villa but is expected to return soon.

Match Facts

• Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last six Premier League home games against Nottingham Forest, winning the last five in a row. Their last defeat was in October 1994 under Ron Atkinson (0-2).

• Nottingham Forest have won two of their last four league games against Aston Villa (L2), as many as they had in their previous 18 (D7 L9).

• Villa beat Leicester 2-1 in their first Premier League game of 2025. They’ve not won their opening league game in consecutive calendar years since 2008/2009.

• Forest have won their opening league game in five of the last seven calendar years, including a 3-0 win at Wolves in 2025. The exceptions in this run were a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in 2023, and a 2-3 loss at Brentford in 2024.

• Aston Villa have won their last 10 home games in all competitions, last having a longer run between October 1989 and January 1990 (11).

• No team have failed to score in more different Premier League games this season than Nottingham Forest (10), while only Wolves (11) have scored fewer goals than the Tricky Trees (18).

• Villa’s 4-1 defeat at Arsenal ended their eight game winning run in the Premier League (11 in all competitions). Only twice since the start of 2023-24 have they lost consecutive league games, doing so in November 2024 and August this season.

• Having been unbeaten in his first three Premier League away games against Aston Villa (W1 D2), Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche has lost his last two at Villa Park by an aggregate score of 7-2.

• Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins has scored three goals in his last two Premier League games, as many as he had in his previous 19. However, his last five league goals have come away from home, last scoring at Villa Park in September against Fulham.

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