It’s an all-English Europa League semifinal as Nottingham Forest take on Aston Villa in a first leg packed full of European pedigree.
Both sides are just three games away from potentially securing a first major European trophy since the glory days of the early eighties, when both teams won the European Cup.
With a spot against either Braga or Freiburg in the final up for grabs, a win tonight for either of these sides could well put them in the driving seat. You can follow all the action from the City Ground, plus goal updates from Crystal Palace’s Conference League semifinal against Shakhtar Donetsk, right here with ESPN.
Despite sitting at opposite ends of the Premier League table, both Forest and Villa come into this semifinal in good form.
Following the sides’ 1-1 draw in the league in early April, Vitor Pereira’s side have seen off Porto in their quarterfinal and routed both Burnley and Sunderland.
Central to Forest’s upturn in form has been attacking midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, who has five goals in his last three games.
Striker Igor Jesus has also scored more in his last four league games than he had in his previous 29, having — prior to that — saved his best form for the Europa League.
Villa have also been on a good run in recent weeks, having thumped Bologna 7-1 on aggregate to make it to this point and won five of their last seven in all competitions.
Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers have been at the heart of their success, and have joined Gibbs-White in putting pressure on England manager Thomas Tuchel to include them in his squad for this summer’s World Cup.
