Key events
30 min: Villa back in shape now, Forest need Anderson to go on a solo run, and his shot is deflected. Corner ball, and he will take.
28 min: Better from Forest, it has has to be said. And that may open up space for Villa, too. The gloom is at last lifting.
27 min: The ball is chipped to the back post from Gibbs-White. Only Dominguez there to reach it, and a host of Villa players. Forest get a free-kick and Murillo is too elaborate for his colleagues.
25 min: Tielemans sets up Duran, then Cash and McGinn both have a swing at the ball.
24 min: Chris Wood gets crowded out. Not much doing for the big man.
22 min: Anderson and Hudson-Odoi try to force something, and it really is forcing it. No flow to either attack. Not a great advert for the midland powerhouse, this. Hudson-Odoi’s cross comes in, and is headed away. Konza eventually clears Villa lines.
20 min: Big noise from both fans. It’s that time of year. The football has been rather lacking in glitter. Yates, recovered, has a shot. It ends up somewhere in the forecourt behind the stand.
18 min: Duran gets his first shot on goal and it would have been miraculous if that went in. Neither team looking too capable of anything here so far.
15 min: Yates needs treatment but seems ok to continue. This has been fairly forgettable so far.
12 min: Ryan Yates, the Forest captain, has taken a knock. So has Morgan Rogers. There’s a few players showing the wear and tear of the heavy schedule.
9 min: Unai Emery patrols the touchline, his hangdog expression always reminding of Steve Coogan as Mr Hennety. His team have dominated possession but getting little change.
8 min: Few tackles going in. Matz Selz, the Forest keeper, looks hurt and then Duran takes a kick.
7 min: Forest – as you would expect with a Nuno team – are keeping their shape.
Bogdan gets in touch: “I am not a fan of either of these two teams but the fact is that they have, combined, been crowned the European champions three times. So this is a match between two clubs that are probably bigger than anyone thinks in the first place, two teams whose tradition and history must be respected.”
Both teams have had wilderness periods since but on visiting them, you are left in no doubt over how big clubs they are. Love visiting both, actually.
5 min: Villa are dominant in possession, Forest sitting back, with Chris Wood going back to help out. Hudson-Odoi fails to keep the ball in when a counter beckoned.
4 min: Gibbs-White and Anderson link but the ball into the centre is no test for Martinez.
3 min: Morgan Rogers’ blonde hair – is that new? “I’ll have the Abel Xavier, please.” Villa doing most of the pushing on.
Mull of Kintyre means we are go go go in Notts
1 min: High stakes for a midlands derby, and that makes a nice change. It’s been a few decades since that was a regular thing. Jhon Duran, 21 yesterday, gets an early touch.
Welcome to the Jungle rings out and it’s showtime at the City Ground.
Photographs: Michael Regan/Getty Images (top); Shaun Botterill/Getty Images.
Late news: Pau Torres is back in, with Tyrone Mings feeling ill in the warm-up.
Nottingham Forest: Matz Sels, Ola Aina, Murillo, Nikola Milenkovic, Neco Williams, Ryan Yates, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Nicolas Dominguez, Chris Wood.
Subs: Morato, Taiwo Awoniyi, Harry Toffolo, James Ward-Prowse, Jota Silva, Anthony Elanga, Ramon Sosa, Willy-Arnaud Boly, Carlos Miguel.
Aston Villa: Emiliano Martinez, Matty Cash, Diego Carlos, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres, Lucas Digne, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Boubacar Kamara, Jhon Duran.
Subs: Ross Barkley, Emiliano Buendia, Ollie Watkins, Kosta Nedeljkovic, Ian Maatsen, Amadou Onana, Lamare Bogarde, Robin Olsen.
Those results make this a battle of fifth versus sixth.
The Saturday 3pms are done, and a couple of surprising results.
One change from Forest’s glorious defeat of Manchester United, and that’s Dominguez in for Jota. For Villa, Duran starts as expected, and Pau Torres is replaced by Tyrone Mings.
The teams – Duran starts
Nottingham Forest: Matz Sels, Ola Aina, Murillo, Nikola Milenkovic, Neco Williams, Ryan Yates, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Nicolas Dominguez, Chris Wood.
Subs: Morato, Taiwo Awoniyi, Harry Toffolo, James Ward-Prowse, Jota Silva, Anthony Elanga, Ramon Sosa, Willy-Arnaud Boly, Carlos Miguel.
Aston Villa: Emiliano Martinez, Matty Cash, Diego Carlos, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Lucas Digne, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Boubacar Kamara, Jhon Duran.
Subs: Ross Barkley, Emiliano Buendia, Ollie Watkins, Pau Torres, Kosta Nedeljkovic, Ian Maatsen, Amadou Onana, Lamare Bogarde, Robin Olsen.
Quiz time, and it’s a difficult one.
Early team news.
Alex Moreno cannot play for Forest as he is a Villa loanee.
Ollie Watkins is a doubt so we could see Jhon Duran making another start after his winner last week against Southampton.
Preamble
Aston Villa, whose form looked to have slipped, look to have refound their mojo, with a big win in Leipzig to celebrate to follow two Premier League wins that were much-needed. Nottingham Forest are hunting in the territory Villa aspire to, Nuno hailed as a miracle worker in the East Midlands. Two former European Cup winners where the good times have rolled around once again, this could be a pre-Christmas cracker.
Kick-off is 5.30pm. Join me.
