Forest tomorrow, Burnley on Sunday, match facts from the BBC and acting like grown up adults

So, it's the day before a big match and as is custom in my household I've finished work early, I've opened a bottle of wine and over the next hour or so I'm going to enjoy a glass or two and turn my mind to the match post.

But seeing as I've already had a glass, I want to write a little something about the Spurs match. In particular I want to focus on the meltdown many people seem to have had. And before that I just want to remind everyone that we are currently fifth in the table, six points ahead of the team below us and in the semi-finals of a major European competition.

I wanted to drop that little reminder in because judging by some of the comments here and on X that I've read the past few days, you'd be forgiven for thinking we were on the verge of relegation, had a fake Doctor owning the Club and a manager in his first job.

And I write all of that because against Spurs we rested most of our players. I write that to remind you all that Spurs are playing for survival with a manager that has got them up for it. And these are just things that are known to us. These are things that I think of as black and white.

And this is where I'm going to admit something that I've been hiding from all of you for years.

I never played football at any serious level. The highest I got was schoolboy and county and because of that I know what I don't know. And what I know I don't know is that the game is as much in the head and as much about purpose and intensity as it is about ability and skill.

And at this level, all these players are at a very similar skill and ability level. It's them playing as a team, regularly, sharing a passion and purpose and making it happen. We made so many changes against a side on a high, in terms of new manager bounce, fighting for survival and we lost. What I don't know is and what most of us don't is the detail that goes to making the team win a match 2-1 or lose it 2-1.

Those changes were made because of the match tomorrow and the one on Sunday. And it's really only after both of these matches that we can be angry or upset and even if we lose both it doesn't mean we don't end in the top five this season with Champions League football.

I wrote both of those matches because our aim this season should be to finish in a Champions League place, not get to a final of a match that could get us Champions League football next season. And as things stand right now, we are very much on target.

But for now and this is where I want to end this post, we have a manager that many would consider elite. Yes, you read that right, we have an elite manager. And I for one have faith that he knows what he's doing, has forgotten more about managing a football club that I have ever known and will get us Champions League football next season.

And if all things go the way he wants tomorrow, he'll get us to a major European final too. But if all things go to plan Megan Fox is going to knock on my door in about half a bottles time and you know the rest. 

Match facts from the BBC

• Aston Vila are unbeaten in each of their last 10 meetings with Nottingham Forest at Villa Park across all competitions (W7 D3), since a 2-0 loss in the Premier League in October 1994 under Ron Atkinson.

• Nottingham Forest are unbeaten in each of their three European games against fellow English opposition, keeping a clean sheet each time (W2 D1) – their only previous away match was at Anfield versus Liverpool in the 1978-79 European Cup first round, drawing 0-0.

• Aston Villa have won each of their last nine home games in major European competition, since a 0-0 draw with Juventus in last season’s UEFA Champions League; the Villans have also scored in 31 of their last 32 matches at Villa Park in such competitions, with that goalless draw the sole exception.

• Nottingham Forest are looking to reach a third major European final after, the 1978-79 and 1979-80 European Cups – the Tricky Trees have only been eliminated from one of their last 13 knockout stage ties when winning the first leg, with that the 1983-84 UEFA Cup semi-final against Anderlecht.

• Aston Villa are aiming to reach a second major European final, after the 1981-82 European Cup; the last team to overturn a first leg deficit in a major European tie against an opponent from the same nation as them were Atlético de Madrid vs Barcelona in the 2015-16 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals (1-2 away 1st leg, 2-0 home 2nd leg).

• No team have recorded more clean sheets in the 2025-26 UEFA Europa League than both Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest (7), both keeping a joint-high three in the knockout stages; the Tricky Trees restricted the Villans to an xG of 0.8 in the first leg, their second lowest tally in a knockout stage game this term (0.5 away to Lille).  

• Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has only once before lost both legs of a knockout stage tie in the UEFA Cup/Europa League, with Valencia against Atlético de Madrid in the 2011-12 semi-finals. In fact, that was the last two-legged tie the Spaniard was eliminated from in this competition, progressing from 22 in a row since.

• In the first leg of this tie, Nottingham Forest’s Omari Hutchinson recorded the most dribbles (10), created the most chances (4) and had the joint-second most shots (3) – he was the first player to post each of those figures in a UEFA Europa League game since Athletic Club’s Nico Williams vs Roma in last season’s round of 16.   

• Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers has been directly involved in five goals in six home appearances in this season’s UEFA Europa League (2 goals, 3 assists), while he has also scored (1) or assisted (1) in his last two outings at Villa Park against Nottingham Forest in all competitions.

• Nottingham Forest’s Igor Jesus has been directly involved in the most away goals in this season’s UEFA Europa League (5 – 4 goals, 1 assist) – he has also had the most shots (34), shots on target (16) and posted the highest xG figure (6.7) in the competition overall this term.