Watkins, Asensio And Disasi To Start | 4-2-3-1 Aston Villa Predicted Lineup Vs Nottingham Forest | OneFootball

Aston Villa will entertain Nottingham Forest at Villa Park this Saturday evening. The Villans would look to secure a win in front of their home fans ahead of their quarterfinal showdown against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League next week.

Unai Emery will set his men up in a 4-2-3-1 formation and could make a few tweaks to his first XI for this game. Ollie Watkins, Marco Asensio and Axel Disasi will play from the start of this contest at Villa Park.

4-2-3-1 Aston Villa Predicted Lineup To Face Nottingham Forest

Defence

Emiliano Martinez will feature in between the sticks for the Villans after keeping a clean sheet in his last league outing. Tyrone Mings will play alongside Axel Disasi at the centre of Emery’s defence as they try to keep things solid at the back during the 90 minutes.

Matty Cash will fill in as the right-back while Lucas Digne hopes to catch the eye on the other flank as the left-back. Both of them will look to get forward and express themselves in the Nottingham half whenever they can.

Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa will be named on the bench as they provide cover for the centre-half positions.

BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – APRIL 02: Marco Asensio of Aston Villa celebrates scoring his team’s second goal with teammate Morgan Rogers during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion FC and Aston Villa FC at Amex Stadium on April 02, 2025 in Brighton, England. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Midfield

Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara will anchor the midfield for Aston Villa as they try to dictate the tempo of the game at the centre of the park.

The gifted trio of Jacob Ramsey, Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford will operate just ahead of them as part of Emery’s attack. All three of them need to combine well if they are to create enough chances to win this contest versus Nottingham.

Amadou Onana and Donyell Malen will make up the numbers on the bench as they wait for their chance to make an impact in the second 45 minutes if needed. However, Ross Barkley will be sidelined for this game because of a knee injury.

Attack

Ollie Watkins will spearhead Aston Villa’s attack up top. The English centre-forward would be eager to find the back of the net this weekend.

However, this game might come too soon for Leon Bailey, who is currently recovering from a knock.