Opta’s supercomputer predicts Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa in Europa League semi-final
Nottingham Forest return to Europa League action on Thursday evening.
Nottingham Forest defeated Porto over two legs in the quarter-finals to advance to the semi-finals of the competition.
Vitor Pereira’s side will meet Aston Villa in the last four after they thumped Serie A outfit Bologna 7-1 on aggregate.
Ahead of the first leg at the City Ground tomorrow, Opta’s supercomputer has issued its prediction.
Nottingham Forest are slight underdogs vs Aston Villa
Despite Aston Villa being 19 points clear of Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, the supercomputer has made this game a pick ’em.
The software has given Forest a 35% chance of securing victory tomorrow night, with Villa 39% likely to get the win.
A draw is rated at 26%, so clearly the supercomputer is expecting a very close game at the 30,000-seater stadium.
No one can replace him, and there is much more to football than how far someone runs. Garner is also never gonna join as he has been amazing this season.
Forest have already played Villa twice in the Premier League this season, with their most recent meeting ending in a 1-1 draw earlier this month.
Neco Williams’ first-half strike cancelled out Murillo’s own goal, so Pereira’s side should be confident of more than matching Unai Emery’s side again.
Villa suffered a 1-0 defeat against Fulham at the weekend, so they head into the game off the back of a poor result.
Pereira’s side have the wind in their sails, as they hammered Sunderland 5-0 at the Stadium of Light, with four different goalscorers on the scoresheet.
Chris Wood netted his first Forest goal since the opening day of the season, so perhaps he may now go on a run heading into the business end of the campaign.
A telling few weeks await the Tricky Trees.