Aston Villa

Ailsa Cowen
BBC Sport journalist

Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins has said it was "fair" he wasn't selected for the England squad but it gave him the "fuel" to improve his goalscoring form.

Back in March, when England manager Thomas Tuchel revealed his latest squad, Watkins had been struggling in front of goal.

From January until March, he scored two goals in 12 games. Since then, he has seen a resurgence with five goals in five games, with two coming against Sunderland and one assist.

"I had no animosity towards him [Tuchel]. What he said to me was personal, I needed that time away to get that fire back in my belly," said Watkins.

Villa have also had a strong run in Europe this season, they play Nottingham Forest in the Europa League semi-final this evening.

They have won all five Europa League knockout matches this season, scoring 13 goals.

Watkins said the possibility of going on to win the competition could "be more special" than Villa's play-off win in 2019.

"I think we need to do everything we can to get to the end. It is not going to be easy."

Having "never lifted a trophy", the 30-year-old is determined to get his hands on one this season.

They'll be hoping there is no repeat of their last European semi-final, where they lost out to Olympiakos in the Conference League.

"We were playing such good football, but we didn't really turn up," said Watkins.

"This year our form has been amazing in Europe, so I think that togetherness and we have learned a lot. We need to pull together with that experience and go one more."

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Mike Taylor
BBC Radio WM reporter

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Aston Villa's nine-month pursuit of the same goal down two paths may be all but complete a week from now.

Even after a pallid showing at Fulham, one more Premier League win will most likely be enough to hit the Champions League target, with two eminently winnable games up next. They remain favourites at a skinny price to win the Europa League, a prize with a Champions League place as a bonus.

But it is the apparent secondary target that fires the imagination, for all the cash rewards of a top-five finish. For the third spring running, Villa enter a knockout semi-final in which they are widely assumed to be the stronger side, with an enormous weight of expectation from supporters who have only seen a Villa captain lift a major trophy on video. This is now true of any fan still on the right side of 30, which, in one of the youngest cities in Europe, must be a lot of people.

"The semi-final against Olympiacos two years ago, we lost," said Unai Emery on Wednesday. "But we were involved in the Premier League to finish fourth and we finished the season a little bit more tired and with some important injuries. We accepted it and, of course, it was a process we had in that moment.

"Last year, we played in the semi-final of the FA Cup - we lost, and didn't deserve more against Crystal Palace. It was another experience. We are going to try to use our experiences to try to get better in this one."

More than anyone else, Emery has stressed that the Premier League is the club's unassailable top priority. The reasons are clear enough. A trophy brings a huge sugar-high, but a scrapbook of memories is all that lasts. Champions League qualification is the means to secure the financial elbow-room necessary to achieve their future ambitions.

Fine. We all recognise the supremacy of the numbers now. But Thursday, and Villa Park next week, will remind us that the game is still about more than that.

Emery himself, so clearly a man with a deep footballing soul, loves the game passionately enough to know why. Villa are playing for their right, and that of their Gen-Z fans, to tell stories to their future descendants, as the generations before them speak of Rotterdam and Ron Saunders.

They will not tell tales of how they finished fifth, but famous nights and thrilling moments: Jhon Duran against Bayern Munich, Emi Buendia against Arsenal - and, they hope, legends of Istanbul.

The only road back to there runs through Nottingham.

Listen to full commentary of Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa at 20:00 BST on Thursday on BBC Radio WM (95.6FM/DAB/Freeview 714)

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Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Boss Unai Emery said Aston Villa want to create some history as they chase a place in next month's Europa League final.

Villa go to Nottingham Forest in their semi-final first leg on Thursday looking to end their 30-year trophy drought.

The winners will face either Freiburg or Braga in the final in Istanbul on 20 May.

It is Emery's seventh Europa League semi-final, the former Arsenal boss having won the competition three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal. He lost with the Gunners to Chelsea in the 2019 final.

He said: "I have my own experiences before in this competition and different momentum as well.

"But it is completely different. In football, everything you have done before, though it may be fantastic, it's done.

"Now it is a new chapter and I want to write a new chapter here. The most important experiences are the ones we have here together.

"Our experiences are a semi-final in the Conference League, quarter-final in the Champions League.

"We must try to learn with our experiences, to respond better than we did."

Villa beat Forest 3-1 at Villa Park in January before a 1-1 draw at the City Ground earlier this month in the Premier League.

Forest are 16th, five points above the relegation zone, compared to Champions League-chasing Villa who are fifth.

"How we are arriving in the key moment in this competition, it has been fantastic but now the semi final is 50-50 for both teams," added Emery.

"It is very important for both teams and they have history in Europe, winning the European Cup, and we have our history as well but not recently. We want to try to keep doing something important in Europe."

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Melissa Edwards
BBC Sport journalist

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has been speaking to the media before Thursday's Europa League semi-final, first leg tie against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground (kick-off 20:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Amadou Onana could return to the squad as Emery confirms he will see on Wednesday afternoon if the midfielder is "feeling good to play", after missing the defeat at Fulham last weekend.

• On how he feels going into the semi-final, Emery said: "How we are alive in this moment in this competition and how we've been performing is fantastic. But now in the semi-final it's 50-50 for both teams and very important for both teams. Nottingham Forest have history in Europe winning the Champions League and we have our history as well but not recently. Recently we want both teams to keep doing something important in Europe."

• Emery has now reached three semi-finals for Villa and the Spaniard wants to use those shared experiences to get his players to "respond better" and make it through to a final this time around.

• With four years at Villa Park under his belt, Emery was asked about the value of stability. He said: "I'm not thinking a lot about it. I'm always focusing on each moment and of course if I can take two minutes to think about it – how we are here and competing in the Europa League is fantastic. How we're in the top five in the Premier League is fantastic. We need to win tomorrow because football is win, again to win, again to win and again to win. It's the only way you can survive."

• Villa will host Vitor Pereira's side next week in the second leg and Emery isn't expecting his side to take a lead back to the West Midlands, but he does "expect" his team to "be competitive and try to dominate".

• On facing a fellow Premier League side, Emery said: "It's the same, but not the same in that you have to manage each moment. Even the first half of the first leg and the second half of the second leg – they are different and I expect it to be a lot. Why? Because they are performing very good, playing with confidence from the last two matches and they were amazing. They scored four and five goals in the matches they played. In the Europa League as well as - being competitive and how in the last two rounds they competed fantastically."

• He continued: "I expect a very intelligent match from them and hopefully of course, we play intelligently and compete and try to enjoy. We can feel it with the supporters and the players, everyone involved in this semi-final. We must try to enjoy the preparation and the match."

Listen to build-up and live commentary of the match on 5 Live and BBC Sounds from 19:00 BST on Thursday

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Aston Villa travel to Nottingham Forest on Thursday evening for the Europa League semi-final, a huge tie between two Premier League sides.

The prospect of being in a European final feels worlds away from Forest's reality in the Premier League, where they're five points off of the relegation zone.

Villa are comfortably in fifth, which would secure their place in Champions League football for next season.

And they're set to be fierce competitors, given that they have won 11 Europa League matches this season.

Only Porto in 2010-11 (12), Atletico Madrid in 2011-12 (13) and Chelsea in 2018-19 (12) have won more Europa League games in a single season.

Unai Emery's squad have also won their last nine games in a row – the only English team to win 10 in a row in major European football is Manchester City between May 2023 and March 2024.

In January Emery told the media, after their 1-0 win against Fenerbahce, the club "have clear objectives in this competition to be a contender for a trophy".

"We want to be a contender in case we need this trophy to play in the Champions League. Through our league [it] is very difficult.

"I am dreaming to be here getting trophies and the Europa is one objective we have this year."

Will Villa win their first piece of silverware since 1996?

Emery's dream feels close to becoming a reality.

Aston Villa and Newcastle United are interested in signing Maxi Araujo, 26, from Sporting, with the Uruguay international able to play left-back and on the left wing. (Sport Witness), external

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Hannah Gowen
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Aston Villa's form in 2026 has shown how important Unai Emery's key midfield players are.

Having travelled to Craven Cottage on Saturday - previously a happy hunting ground for Emery - Villa looked lethargic and lacked a dominant force in the middle of the park.

There was an Amadou Onana shaped hole. Another injury meant the Belgium international was sidelined - his 29th game missed through injury across his two seasons at the club.

Barely a month has passed since John McGinn and Youri Tielemans returned from their respective injuries and, with Boubacar Kamara out for the campaign, Villa have been without their strongest midfield for most of this year.

Emery has been reliant on Onana's presence during much of this period, despite knowing the midfielder has been prone to small recurring muscle injuries, often attributed to fatigue.

This week, the club will compete in another European semi-final. It is undoubtedly one of the biggest games in Emery's tenure, with just two games between him and another Europa League final.

But, at the moment, it looks like Onana may be missing for what will be a season-defining game.

The midfield injury woes since the turn of the year have coincided with a drop off in away form, with Villa winning just one away league fixture since the beginning of the year.

This will no doubt be a concern heading into Thursday night's game against Nottingham Forest.

Despite these challenges, much of Villa's hard work for the season is done. The club sit eight points ahead of sixth position with four games remaining, with relegation candidates Tottenham and already-relegated Burnley up next.

So Champions League qualification seems likely and the potential of a European trophy is currently high.

To ensure this season ends in success, hopefully with a piece of silverware in the cabinet, Emery and his team will have to show the best of their ability to perform under pressure - perhaps even without their best XI.

Find more from Hannah Gowen at UTV, external

Borussia Dortmund are closing in on a deal to re-sign English winger Jadon Sancho this summer but Aston Villa remain hopeful they can agree a move for the 26-year-old when he becomes a free agent in July. (Teamtalk), external

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Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

If Aston Villa qualify for the Champions League this season, will they still have to shop in the bargain basement of free transfers and loans or can they actually splurge a little? This is a question that came in via our Villa 'Ask Me Anything' form where we answer your burning questions

Villa, fifth in the Premier League, are on the brink of qualifying for the Champions League and it will undoubtedly help their financial position.

They can afford a couple of slip ups - one came in Saturday's defeat at Fulham - and can even reach the Champions League by winning the Europa League - they face Nottingham Forest in the semi final - so it is almost assured.

Bu you just have to look at the accounts to show how important returning to European elite competition is.

The club reported a profit of £17m for 2024-25, the season in which they last played in the Champions League, compared with a loss of nearly £90m in the previous year.

It is clear how vital Champions League football is to Villa, having lost 119.6m for the year 2022-23, and their revenue increased by 37% to £378.1m when they were in the competition.

That said, the expectation is Villa will still have to tread a financial tightrope this summer and will likely need to sell.

Morgan Rogers has excelled since joining from Middlesbrough for £16m two years ago and a strong World Cup for England would allow Villa to demand close to £100m.

Villa want to keep their best players, and Champions League qualification strengthens Villa's hand, but selling a player every year is the easiest way to comply with the rules.

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Fulham and Aston Villa.

Here are some of your comments:

Fulham fans

David: Great improvement on last week - like a different team. Jimenez starting was the right decision - he makes so much more happen than Muniz. Robinson as substitute was much better than of late. Europe may be in reach.

Malachi: It was clear what Marco Silva wanted from his players. Fulham played intelligent, winning football. With Europe back in sight, I'm exited to see where we finish this season.

Tim: Brilliant on all fronts. Great to see the squad performing as they can - a proper team effort with a clean sheet and crisp, clean football. Marco and the coaching squad really prepared the team and the strategy held up. Now to help spoil the Arsenal's ending next weekend!

James: Come on, you Whites! It was a great performance and we completely deserved the three points. A trip to Europe is still in sight - only two points behind sixth. A very hard game coming up next against Arsenal.

Villa fans

Rob: We are staggering towards the Champions League, hoping that we have enough points in the bag to make it in fifth place. Poor finishing has cost us again with Watkins missing two good chances, Tammy one and Rogers one. It's been the story of our season. UCL qualification is critical if we are going to be able to improve because this squad of players are continuing to overachieve.

Matt: Yeesh, I seriously hope we had one eye on the upcoming semi against Nottingham Forest. Fulham did enough against a Villa side who were nowhere near their best. They'll need to double the workload midweek that's for sure, especially when Forest battered Sunderland comfortably. Sancho and Bailey are not good enough - they're meant to have an impact and did nothing. In Unai we trust, but the chances we missed today hopefully won't return to bite us. UTV.

Martyn: Villa are so frustrating. Their inconsistency is painful. An epic performance followed by a dripping wet, lacklustre game. Get. The. Job. Done.

Jack: We are lucky to be fifth and it's only because everyone outside the top two is poor that we are. Emery is a great coach but we have been largely poor under him for three months and, once again, have a very bad goal difference for the third season running. Spending more would help but we have a very large wage bill and wasted it on Sancho, Elliott, Bailey etc. If Forest knock us out of Europe it will be another season without a trophy.

Everton have set their sights on Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn. (Football Insider), external

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Pundits Martin Keown and Steph Houghton join host Mark Chapman to bring you the action and talking points from Friday and Saturday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

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• West Ham 2-1 Everton

• Wolves 0-1 Tottenham

• Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle

Matthew Henry
BBC Sport Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Defeat should not be met by panic at Aston Villa.

At worst they will end the weekend with a seven-point advantage over those outside of the Champions League places with four games to go. They will almost certainly have enough.

Emery cut a frustrated figure for much of the second half, however.

His side were loose on the ball and, without the thrust offered by injured midfielder Amadou Onana, struggled to break through Fulham's solid defensive shape.

Watkins followed his well-crafted first-half chance by blazing an effort over in the second.

After six goals in his previous five games, it would be harsh to read too much into the striker's showing when it comes to debating whether he will make England's World Cup squad, but his miss was untimely with Tuchel watching on.

He was substituted with 10 minutes to go and replaced by Tammy Abraham, who wasted a chance of his own.

An exasperated Emery bounded around his technical area in response to that miss. He will hope for much better at Forest on Thursday.

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery speaking to TNT Sports:

"We have lost a really good opportunity, the players did everything we were planning but we needed to be more clinical.

"The match was pretty even - sometimes for us sometimes for them. We created a few chances to score, it was very difficult. They have good players and coach and to beat teams like Fulham is for us something we must work on because that can happen.

"We needed fresh legs, they're tired. The players tried to keep the same game plan we had at the beginning. We had chances with Ollie Watkins, Tammy Abraham but we couldn't get in their box. We needed to better occupy the spaces in their box. We did everything we were planning but sometimes we are scoring sometimes not like today. It was a tight match and they score one goal and we lost.

"It's going to be very difficult. My message is the same - keep going, keep trying to get better each week."

Did you know?

• After winning each of their five Premier League games against sides from London between September and December 27th, Aston Villa have since won just one of their last six vs teams from the capital (D1 L4).

• Despite his side losing today, John McGinn created five chances in total, the most he's ever recorded in a Premier League match on what was his 230th appearance.

• In this match, Emi Martinez made his 250th appearance for Villa across all competitions, becoming the third South American goalkeeper to reach that milestone while playing for a single Premier League side, after Ederson (372 for Manchester City) and Alisson Becker (332 for Liverpool).

Listen to Emery's chat with BBC radio WM here

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Fulham's performance

What did you make of Villa's display?

Fulham are without key man Alexander Iwobi for this one after he limped out of last week's draw against Brentford. Samuel Chukwueze came off the bench last week and starts against Aston Villa.

Raul Jimenez also starts up front while Sander Berge replaces Tom Cairney in midfield.

Fulham XI: Leno; Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon; Berge, Lukic; Wilson, Smith Rowe, Chukwueze; Raul Jimenez.

Subs: Lecomte (GK), Reed, Muniz, Cairney, Bobb, Kusi-Asare, King, Diop, Robinson.

There is no Amadou Onana for Villa today. We await news on that absence with the Europa League semi-final to come next week.

His absence means a return for Lamare Bogarde. Pau Torres is also back in defence and Emi Buendia starts over Ross Barkley in midfield.

Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Pau Torres, Digne; Tielemans, Bogarde; McGinn, Rogers, Buendia; Watkins.

Subs: Bizot (GK), Lindelof, Mings, Barkley, Abraham, Sancho, Luiz, Maatsen, Bailey

There are five games in the Premier League on Saturday and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Fulham v Aston Villa (12:30)

• Liverpool v Crystal Palace

• West Ham v Everton - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• Wolves v Tottenham - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Arsenal v Newcastle (17:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off times 15:00 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

You can also watch, listen a follow live text of the FA Cup semi-final between Man City and Southampton here (kick-off 17:15)

You can also listen to today's 5 Live Premier League commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play West Ham v Everton" or "ask BBC Sounds to play Arsenal v Newcastle", for instance.

Find out more about how to listen to Premier League football on BBC Sounds

Prudent Nsengiyumva
BBC Sport journalist

Fulham welcome Aston Villa in Saturday's early kick-off (12:30 BST) at Craven Cottage, with both sides fighting for European qualification. Fulham are looking to reverse a dip in their attacking output, while Villa seek to cement their strong record in this fixture.

Fulham searching for goals

Fulham's recent home clashes with Aston Villa mark a shift from earlier seasons. After losing only two of the first 13 Premier League meetings at Craven Cottage, they have since been beaten in three of the past four.

Regardless of the opposition, goals have been hard to come by of late for the Londoners. Marco Silva's side have failed to score in four of their last five Premier League matches, as many as across their previous 25 combined. Since the start of 2026, only Fulham and Wolves have scored fewer first half goals in the league (four).

A Fulham win would move them within a point of a guaranteed European place. However, seven of their last eight league wins have come against teams starting the day in the bottom half; they have managed just one victory from their last eight against top-half opposition.

Villa close to Champions League return

Precedent show Aston Villa are well placed in the Champions League race. No side has ever failed to qualify after holding a double‑figure points advantage with five matches remaining, as they did prior to the midweek games.

Villa will head to west London having won their last six Premier League games against Fulham, a run dating back to October 2022. Villa's manager Unai Emery has won all eight of his league meetings with the Cottagers – a perfect record bettered only in longevity by Pep Guardiola against a single opponent.

One player who might especially be looking forward to Saturday is in-form striker Ollie Watkins. The Englishman has enjoyed this fixture, scoring six Premier League goals against Fulham.

Nonetheless, Villa's recent away form is mixed. They have won just once in their last seven Premier League games on the road and are winless in four. They have also conceded three or more goals in three of their last five league fixtures, as many as in the previous 38 combined.