Match details
What: Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa, Premier League
Where: City Ground
When: 2pm, Sunday April 12
Watch: Sky Sports Premier League
Motivated teams to get a point each
Nottingham Forest are 16th in the Premier League while Aston Villa are fourth, but this game should be more competitive than the table suggests.
The hosts are unbeaten in their past four games as they attempt to both avoid the drop and make progress in Europe. They won 3-0 at fellow relegation candidates Tottenham Hotspur in their previous Premier League outing and then claimed a 1-1 draw away at Porto in the Europa League on Thursday night.
Villa were also in Europa League action in midweek, claiming an excellent 3-1 win at Bologna in the first leg of their quarter-final tie. It was their third straight victory, but their Premier League form has been patchy of late.
Unai Emery’s team won at home to West Ham United in their previous top-flight match, which ended a run of four games without a victory in this competition. They have not won any of their past three away matches in the league, drawing at Bournemouth and losing to Wolves and Manchester United.
Forest have been struggling to pick up home wins in the Premier League, but they have been drawing a lot of their games at the City Ground. Four of their past five league home matches have ended in a draw, including a 0-0 stalemate against the leaders Arsenal in January.
With both teams feeling the fatigue from playing on Thursday night, this has the makings of a tight game, in which few goals are scored. I’m backing the draw at 23/10.