Bologna Halftime, Forest Next

Villa notched their first victory in Italy by somehow conjuring up a 3-1 win over Bologna. As Emery admitted, and all of us saw, it was hardly a vintage performance, and never matched the scoreline. But the final tally is all that counts.

Ollie got two and Konsa bagged the opener out of nowhere. At the same time, Forest earned a 1-1 draw away to Porto. So today’s match may well be a semifinal rehearsal. It’s also a rather important league match for both sides.

In Bologna, Villa struggled with the tight and aggressive marking. They didn’t string a lot together. They also played it long fairly frequently. Bologna, looking tidy, comfy and very industrious were probably shocked to find themselves trailing at the interval. But that’s football for you, and one hopes it restored a little confidence, not least in Ollie. Sometimes that ineffable “we’re going to find a way,” feeling is everything. The two-goal cushion, restored at the death of extra time, is just what Villa needed. That one reminded me of the late PSG goal that ultimately pushed that tie just out of reach.

Today, despite relative parity in European play, the sides find themselves at opposite ends of the table, where they’ve been most of the season. Villa, with City playing Chelsea today, have a chance to go nine clear of sixth place. With fifth now assured of playing Champions League football, there are worse places to be.

For their part, Forest are sitting just two points above the drop zone with everyone wondering whether De Zerbi can turn Spurs around.

So there’s a lot to play for, obviously. Despite January’s 3-1 win, Forest will be no pushovers.

In team news, Emery is changing it up a bit by starting Lindelof and Barkley. Otherwise, it’s what you’d expect.

Martinez; Cash, Lindelof, Pau, Digne; Onana, Barkley, Tielemans, McGinn, Rogers; Watkins.

With Luiz, Buendia and Abraham on the bench, Emery probably has just enough to change things if it’s not going well.

And naturally we’ll be pulling for Ollie to bag his 100th for Villa today.

Over to you.