Notts Forest vs Aston Villa Europa League semi-final 1st leg Predictions - Forest to snatch a win from Villa

Simon Lewis

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Last updated: 30 Apr 2026

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Simon Lewis 30 Apr 2026

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Notts Forest host Aston Villa in their Europa League semi-final 1st leg.
Forest are enjoying a superb run in Europe despite fighting a relegation battle.
Can Forest keep their Europa League dream alive by beating Top 5 Aston Villa in their Europa League semi-final 1st leg clash on 30 April?

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Ollie Watkins scores for Aston Villa against Bologna (Getty Images).

Notts Forest vs Aston Villa Predictions

Aston Villa’s great first half of the season has soured as they have struggled through March and April, while Forest have hit form in time to all but beat the threat of relegation as well as enjoying a brilliant European campaign.

Notts Forest vs Aston Villa Predictions
Head-to-Head
Notts Forest Form
Aston Villa Form
Notts Forest vs Aston Villa Team News & Squads

Notts Forest are unbeaten in their last 8 matches, with 5 wins.
Notts Forest have kept 4 clean sheets in their last 8 matches, scoring 18 goals to 4.
Notts Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White is his side’s top goal-scorer with 16 goals.
Aston Villa have lost 6 of their last 14 matches this season.
Aston Villa have scored 22 goals in their last 14 matches.
Aston Villa’s top goal-scorer this season is Ollie Watkins with 15 goals.

Head-to-Head

Aston Villa have won three, lost one and drawn one of their last five matches against Notts Forest.

Notts Forest Form

Notts Forest have won five of their last seven matches, including the last three on the bounce. Their last two matches were a 4-1 home win over Burnley followed by a 5-0 thrashing of Sunderland away from home.

In Europe they bounced back from a 1-0 defeat at home to Midtjylland to clinch a place in the quarter-finals by beating the Danish side 3-1 away from home. They then beat Porto 2-1 on aggregate to book their passage to the semi-final. They have scored two or more goals in five of their last eight matches.

Aston Villa Form

Aston Villa’s four-match unbeaten streak ended when they went down 1-0 away to Fulham in the Premier League. They won their previous two games by scoring four goals in each match.

They had a relatively easy passage to the semi-final, beating Lille 3-0 on aggregate and Bologna 7-1 over the two legs. At the end of February they lost to struggling Newcastle 3-1 at home and bottom-of-the-table Wolves 2-0 away from home.

Notts Forest vs Aston Villa Team News & Squads

Forest are likely to be without Jair Cunha (shoulder), Willy Boly (knee) and Murillo.

Villa are hoping Amadou Onana will get the thumbs up from the medical team after recovering from a knee injury. Alysson is still not match-ready while Boubacar Kamara has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

Notts Forest (possible XI): Sels, Aina, Williams, Milenkovic, Jair Cunha, Hutchinson, Gibbs-White, Sangare, Anderson, Wood, Igor Jesus.

Aston Villa (possible XI): Martinez, Cash, Digne, Konsa, Torres, Bogarde, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins.