Match Information
Match Overview
Aston Villa host Nottingham Forest at Villa Park on September 12, 2026, in a Premier League Regular Season fixture that carries early-campaign weight given both clubs' league positions. Villa sit 19th and Forest 15th, meaning this is effectively a clash between two sides seeking to arrest slow starts before the table takes firmer shape.
The dominant storyline is form, and Aston Villa's is alarming. Under Unai Emery, Villa have lost five consecutive matches across all competitions, including back-to-back Premier League defeats to Arsenal (0-1, home, August 31) and Brighton (4-0, away, August 23), sandwiched around a UEFA Super Cup final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on August 12 and losses in pre-season friendlies to Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayern München. The 4-0 loss at Brighton is particularly concerning defensively, and with Villa sitting 19th, home form at Villa Park becomes essential to any turnaround.
Nottingham Forest arrive with a more mixed but arguably steadier picture. Their August 29 draw at Liverpool (2-2) showed resilience against elite opposition, even though it followed cup and league defeats to Leeds in the same week (0-2 in the League Cup, 0-1 in the Premier League, both August 22 and 25). Two pre-season friendly wins over Stade Brestois and Bayer Leverkusen suggest some underlying quality, though competitive results remain inconsistent.
Squad availability favors clarity of selection for Villa, with no injuries reported, allowing Emery to potentially retain continuity from the last available lineup. Forest's injury list is also clear, though a lack of recent lineup data makes their approach harder to forecast precisely.
With both sides winless in their last competitive league outings and occupying lower-half positions, this fixture offers a meaningful opportunity for either team to arrest a difficult start to the season on home soil.
Predicted Lineups
Aston Villa
Z. Suzuki; M. Cash, V. Lindelöf, T. Mings, I. Maatsen; B. Kamara, R. Barkley, J. McGinn, E. Buendía; George Hemmings; N. Jackson
Nottingham Forest
S. Benda; O. Aina, N. Milenković, Murillo, L. Netz; N. Domínguez, I. Sangaré, M. Gibbs-White; C. Hudson-Odoi, O. Hutchinson, L. Delap
Team Form Analysis
Aston Villa
League Position: 19Aston Villa Form Analysis
Aston Villa's recent form makes for grim reading, with five straight defeats spanning competitive and friendly fixtures. In the Premier League specifically, they have lost both matches played, falling 0-1 at home to Arsenal on August 31 and suffering a heavy 4-0 defeat away at Brighton on August 23. The Brighton result stands out as a significant defensive breakdown, conceding four without reply, while the narrow loss to Arsenal suggests competitiveness without end product. Beyond league action, Villa were beaten in the UEFA Super Cup final by Paris Saint-Germain (2-1) on August 12, and lost further friendlies to Bayern München and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Across these five matches, Villa have managed only modest attacking returns while conceding regularly against top-tier opposition. Sitting 19th in the table, the pattern points to a side struggling for both defensive solidity and goal-scoring consistency heading into the Forest fixture, making home advantage at Villa Park an important factor to monitor.
Nottingham Forest
League Position: 15Nottingham Forest Form Analysis
Nottingham Forest's form shows more variation than pure results suggest. Their most recent Premier League outing produced a credible 2-2 draw away at Liverpool on August 29, demonstrating attacking capability and resilience against strong opposition. However, that followed a difficult week featuring a League Cup exit-context defeat to Leeds (0-2, August 25) and a Premier League loss to the same opponents (0-1, August 22), both at home, raising questions about home form and consistency against a single rival. Prior to that stretch, Forest impressed in pre-season friendlies, defeating Stade Brestois 29 (2-0) and Bayer Leverkusen (2-1), suggesting attacking pieces are functioning well in less pressured settings. Sitting 15th in the league, Forest's underlying performances, particularly the Liverpool result, indicate a team capable of competing with top-half opposition even while results against similarly-positioned sides like Leeds have proven elusive.
Head-to-Head
Aston Villa
Nottingham Forest
Recent Meetings
| Date | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-07 | Aston Villa | 4 - 0 | Nottingham Forest |
| 2026-04-30 | Nottingham Forest | 1 - 0 | Aston Villa |
| 2026-04-12 | Nottingham Forest | 1 - 1 | Aston Villa |
| 2026-01-03 | Aston Villa | 3 - 1 | Nottingham Forest |
| 2025-04-05 | Aston Villa | 2 - 1 | Nottingham Forest |
| 2024-12-14 | Nottingham Forest | 2 - 1 | Aston Villa |
| 2024-02-24 | Aston Villa | 4 - 2 | Nottingham Forest |
| 2023-11-05 | Nottingham Forest | 2 - 0 | Aston Villa |
| 2023-04-08 | Aston Villa | 2 - 0 | Nottingham Forest |
| 2022-10-10 | Nottingham Forest | 1 - 1 | Aston Villa |
Memorable Matches
The history between these clubs has produced some notable swings. On May 7, 2026, Aston Villa delivered a commanding 4-0 victory over Forest, one of the most emphatic results in the recent fixture list. That result contrasts sharply with April 30, 2026, when Forest turned the tables with a narrow 1-0 win at home, and April 12, 2026, when the sides shared the points in a tight 1-1 draw. Earlier meetings have also swung both ways, including a 4-2 Villa win on February 24, 2024, and a 2-0 Forest victory on November 5, 2023. The fixture has consistently produced goals and unpredictable outcomes across recent seasons.
Venue Factor
Villa Park provides Aston Villa with a passionate home atmosphere that has historically been central to the club's identity, and with Villa currently 19th in the table and on a poor run of results, home support could play an important role in lifting performance levels. Forest travel to Villa Park off the back of a competitive away draw at Liverpool on August 29, suggesting the visitors are capable of holding their own outside their home ground. Given the head-to-head history includes emphatic home wins for both sides, including Villa's
For a deeper dive into the numbers, see our see detailed stats here.
Injury Concerns
Aston Villa
Nottingham Forest
