Aston Villa are at their best when playing at Villa Park, with Unai Emery’s side winning seven of their nine games at home so far this season. Only Manchester City (24) and Arsenal (28) have picked up more points at home than Aston Villa this season, making them one of the most reliable sides when playing at home in the Premier League.

Only Crystal Palace and Newcastle have managed to take points off Villa at home this season, and that was right at the start of the season when Villa were languishing near the bottom of the table before their upturn in form. Forest are hardly the ideal opponents to end Villa’s recent unbeaten run at home, having only won two of their nine away matches in the Premier League this term.

Forest also come into this contest low on confidence, having lost their last three matches in the Premier League against Fulham, Manchester City and Everton - failing to score in two of those games. Villa beat Forest 2-1 in this fixture last season, and I can see a similar result here with the form and seasonal records that both sides carry into this contest.

Aston Villa win more fouls than any other side in the Premier League, and usually end up drawing a few cards from their opponents as a result. Villa have drawn 2+ cards in 15 of their 19 Premier League matches this season. This record includes drawing 2+ cards from their opponents in 11 of their last 12 matches.

Forest have a pretty modest ranking when it comes to cautions (32 - 1.68 per game), but it’s very likely that we see this tally rise here with how strong Villa are when it comes to winning fouls. Forest have picked up 2+ cards in eight of their 19 Premier League matches this season. This isn’t the best record, but Villa’s strength when it comes to winning fouls and cards should force Simon Hooper to hand out at least two cards to the away side.

Forest picked up two yellow cards and committed 15 fouls in the most recent head-to-head meeting. Simon Hooper is the ideal referee when looking to back cards; he’s handing out 4.36 cards per appointment across his 11 assignments in the Premier League this season.

Morgan Rogers has been in sensational form for Villa across the last few months and has had 2+ shots in four of his last five Premier League appearances. This recent run includes registering shot tallies of five and seven against West Ham and Manchester United, suggesting that Rogers is currently playing with a level of confidence that should see him exceed his shot average across the season.

Rogers has had 35 shots across his 19 Premier League appearances this season (1.86 per 90), with this tally returning seven goals for the 23-year-old. This is still a promising average, and further supported by the recent spike in shots we’ve seen from Rogers - coinciding with Villa’s best ever run of form under Unai Emery, which was only brought to an end by Arsenal last time out.

Rogers even managed to have two shots against the Gunners last time out, which is pretty significant as Arsenal are better than any other side in the Premier League at keeping the opposition's shot count down. Rogers had three shots and scored in the most recent head-to-head meeting, which Villa won 2-1.

Kamara is an excellent player, and a little bit of an unsung hero in Villa’s success so far this season. Kamara is Villa’s designated destroyer in the middle of the park and has committed 15 fouls across his 15 Premier League appearances this season (1.08 per 90).

Kamara has committed a foul in each of his last three Premier League appearances, and his clash against Elliot Anderson in the middle of the park really stands out to me here. One of Anderson’s main strengths is winning fouls, he’s drawn a remarkable 46 fouls across his 19 Premier League appearances this season (2.42 per 90) - ranking him in the 96th percentile for fouls won when compared to other midfielders across Europe.

With winning fouls being such a strong aspect of Anderson’s game, and Kamara being the most defensively-minded of Villa’s midfield, we can expect the pair to contest multiple duels against each other here. Kamara didn’t feature in the most recent head-to-head, but Anderson lined up in the middle of the park and was fouled twice.

Watkins has had a tough season so far, but is starting to find some form with goals in each of his last two Premier League matches against Chelsea and Arsenal.

Strikers often play in streaks of form, and Watkins is one of the best examples of this, with the 30-year-old needing those recent goals to boost his confidence again.

Those strikes against Chelsea and Arsenal have taken Watkins’ tally for the season to six goals across 16 starts in the Premier League, which is a much healthier record than Watkins had a few weeks ago.

Watkins is a player that has scored 15+ Premier League goals in each of the two seasons, so there is no reason why he cannot finish the season with a similar tally this time around - motivated by his recent run of form.

When looking through the potential threats for Forest in this game, Hudson-Odoi stands out as a player that can hurt Villa, particularly with his speed in running beyond Villa’s high defensive line.

Hudson-Odoi is Forest’s joint-top scorer in the Premier League this season with three goals to his name. He achieved this tally from 18 shots (1.58 per 90), six of which have found the target (0.53 per 90).

Aston Villa’s backline is far from secure, they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last five matches across all competitions - and conceded goals regularly in their recent winning run, which spanned 12 games.

Hudson-Odoi had two shots in this fixture last season, with both of his opportunities coming in moments of transition, which is likely to be Forest's approach here.

Nicolas Dominguez is set to start here as Forest continue to try and account for the loss of Ibrahim Sangare in midfield. Sangare was a key player for Forest under Dyche before leaving for AFCON, with Ivory Coast, and Forest have struggled in midfield in his absence - losing their last three matches ahead of this clash.

Dominguez is a very aggressive player and will be the main defensive asset in midfield for Forest here, making him an ideal candidate for a caution. Villa have drawn 2+ cards in 15 of their 19 Premier League matches this season, so we can expect Forest to come away with at least a few cards here.

Dominguez has picked up two yellow cards across just six starts in the Premier League this season, committing seven fouls across those games (1.59 per 90). He collected nine yellow cards across just 23 starts in the Premier League last season, with only Ryan Yates and Elliot Anderson picking up more (10).