Europa League dress rehearsal? Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa match preview and team news

Villa visit Nottingham Forest on Sunday with plenty on the line for both teams

With the international break and a brief winter pause out of the way, the Premier League returns this weekend and the heat is on.

Aston Villa have a decent record in the aftermath of European ties these days but there’s always that slight concern about the match in between the first and second legs of a knock-out tie.

Villa won 3-1 at Bologna on Thursday and will play the return leg seven days later, but if there’s a Europa League hangover then it’s as likely to affect Sunday’s opponents as Unai Emery’s team.

Villa and Forest are on a collision course in Europe. If Villa see off Bologna in the quarter-finals they’ll play the winner of Forest’s tie against Porto in the last four. Vítor Pereira led his team to a 1-1 draw in Portugal in the first leg, albeit with the help of a comical own goal.

To say those matches would be massive would be an understatement but there’s lots riding on the second Premier League meeting of the season too.