We've been treated to the best and worst of football this week. Okay, maybe not the best best or worst worst but the PSG match was great and Arsenal last night, was well, Arsenal.
But at this stage of the tournament both away sides from the Champions League will probably not be that disappointed because they both know they have an advantage in the second match.
And I'm not suggesting that we have to wait until next week but there is a degree of context. That said and I'll probably get to this soon, I think tonight is so important.
It's not just that we want to win tonight, much like Bayern and Arsenal wanted to win away, we have to show this too and not hope it all falls in to place at Villa Park next week.
On Forest for a moment and I for one think they will stay up and I think a Premier League with Nottingham Forest is a better Premier League. But if we've learnt anything the past few weeks it's that tonight will be tough. Forest haven't lost in April and they've scored twelve goals. While we have only lost once and also scored twelve goals, we've conceded six times, twice as many as Forest.
You can look at this a few ways but for me it's that they know how to score, much like we do but they have a solid defence. It's not a better defence than ours, but Sunderland put three past us and nothing past Forest. It could just have been an off day for Sunderland and that's how I'm going to look at it.
But whatever way you do look at tonight, on current form this is a very even game. League position doesn't count tonight.
And on tonight, it's about wanting it more. It's about control, desire and purpose. I think we will know after tonight if we're playing in the final next month because we will see if they really want it. And if they do really want it tonight, we know they can score a few.
Match facts from the BBC
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Nottingham Forest are unbeaten in their last four home games against Aston Villa, all in the Premier League (W2 D2), drawing 1-1 earlier this month at the City Ground. Villa last won there in March 2019 in the Championship under Dean Smith.
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This is the first major European semi-final between two English teams since the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League between Arsenal and Man Utd, won 4-1 by the Red Devils on aggregate.
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Nottingham Forest are into their fourth major European semi-final, previously playing at this stage in the 1978-79 and 1979-80 European Cup – reaching and winning the final in both – and 1983-84 UEFA Cup where they lost 3-2 on aggregate to Anderlecht.
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For a second time in the last three seasons, Aston Villa are into a major European semi-final, losing 6-2 on aggregate to Olympiakos in the 2023-24 Conference League. Before this, their only other last four appearance was in the 1981-82 European Cup when they knocked out Anderlecht.
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Nottingham Forest have had 232 shots, 88 shots on target and 414 touches in the opposition box, all the second most of any side in the UEFA Europa League this season behind Bologna in each category. They have accumulated the most xG, however (27.8).
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Aston Villa have won 11 UEFA Europa League matches this season – only FC Porto in 2010-11 (12), Atlético de Madrid in 2011-12 (13) and Chelsea in 2018-19 (12) have won more in a single season. Villa have won their last nine in a row – the only English team st7 to win 10 in a row in major European football is Manchester City between May 2023 and March 2024.
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Nottingham Forest shipped five goals in their first two UEFA Europa League games this season, but they’ve only conceded seven in 12 since then, with only Freiburg (0.5) conceding fewer per game from MD3 of the group stage onwards than Forest (0.6), while Forest have faced the fewest shots on target per game in that time (2.6).
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Aston Villa manager Unai Emery is set to manage in his seventh UEFA Europa League semi-final (since 2009-10) – no other manager has been in more than three. He lost his first one in 2011-12 with Valencia but has progressed from each of his last five, with Sevilla (2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16), Arsenal (2018-19) and Villarreal (2020-21).
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Ollie Watkins has been involved in a goal in each of his last four UEFA Europa League matches for Aston Villa (4 goals, 1 assist). Wayne Rooney is the only Englishman to score or assist in more consecutive appearances (since 2009-10), doing so in seven in a row between February 2012 and November 2016 for Man Utd.
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Only three players have created more chances in the UEFA Europa League this season than Nottingham Forest’s Callum Hudson-Odoi (23), while only three Englishmen have created more chances in a season since 2009-10: James Milner (31) and Adam Lallana (24) in 2015-16 for Liverpool and James Ward-Prowse in 2023-24 for West Ham (25).