Matt Maher previews Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest

Matt Maher discusses Unai Emery's pre-match press conference ahead of Villa's clash with Nottingham Forest.

Transcript

00:00 Hello from Bodymore Heath where Villa-Bossuno Emery has just held his latest press conference

00:06 ahead of tomorrow's game with Nottingham Forest.

00:10 As with any Villa press conference, the first news to report, or the good news to report

00:14 on this occasion is that there are no fresh injuries.

00:17 For most of the season it feels like there's been a new injury every week for Villa but

00:24 no fresh concerns heading into the game with Forest.

00:27 No players due back tomorrow though Emery did say that Ezri Konza who injured his knee

00:33 against Sheffield United earlier this month has progressed well.

00:36 Diego Carlos due to be out for another two or three weeks with a hamstring injury.

00:40 John Duran, similar kind of time scale, he's been out a bit longer but hopefully Villa

00:45 will have those players back by the March international break ahead of the season's

00:52 final run in.

00:53 It's a busy few weeks ahead of that break for Villa.

00:57 More news today, they've drawn Ajax in the Europa Conference League last 16.

01:02 Emery spoke a bit about that, more than he does normally for games that are a bit further

01:06 ahead.

01:07 He said he was excited by the tie.

01:09 Obviously Ajax are a huge name in European football.

01:14 Jordan Henderson, former England captain, in their ranks now.

01:20 So really exciting tie for Villa to look forward to.

01:24 First up it's Forest tomorrow.

01:27 A big game really, they're all big games now aren't they?

01:30 Villa no, I think they're getting used to the fact that if you drop any points when

01:35 you're in that top four or five it feels like a huge blow.

01:39 They haven't won back to back Premier League games now since December and this feels a

01:44 real opportunity to put some momentum back into the season.

01:48 After a really impressive win against Fulham last week, they've now got Forest looting

01:52 away and Spurs at home after that first game with Ajax.

01:58 That Spurs game really shaping up to be a six pointer in the top four, top five race,

02:03 however you want to see it.

02:05 So yeah, Forest, one of just four teams to beat Villa this season and they didn't manage

02:10 to avenge the defeat against Newcastle or Manchester United so this is their first chance

02:15 to directly avenge a defeat from earlier in the campaign.