Make it right: Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest match preview and team news

Villa appear to have prepared for their biggest match for years in the worst possible fashion – can they get out of their own way to reach a European final?

I truly don’t know where to begin to describe the importance of this match. The second leg of a European semi-final is not something I expected to ever care about again but here we are. And I’m terrified.

Aston Villa are 1-0 down on aggregate after the first leg of their Europa League semi-final tie against Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest. Concluding the semi-final at Villa Park is an advantage for which they worked hard much earlier in the season, yet it seems like every bit of that and more has been squandered in the last few weeks.

Forest have the lead and are the form team of the two by a country mile. Getting through this second leg is a serious undertaking for Unai Emery’s team and the confidence of supporters is at rock bottom.

Emery and some of his players have called for a united front on Thursday night and rightly so.

It is the only way Villa will overturn the deficit but the prospect of the supporters and the team firing one another up in beautiful throaty harmony has never felt further away.

Still, stranger things have happened. It’s a colossal ask in the current situation but Villa have done this before.