After Forest beat Manchester United on Tuesday, the Reds are just eight games away from securing an incredible Champions League position, but Aston Villa are chasing the very same goal.
Nine points separate the sides in the Premier League table, with Unai Emery wanting his side to dominate Forest to help close that gap to give his side hope in the race European race.
Emery has an early boost as Ola Aina will miss the Villa game through injury but it doesn’t make the clash any easier to predict, as made clear by Roy Keane and Gary Neville disagreeing in their preview of the Saturday evening game.
- READ MORE: Nottingham Forest team news and predicted XI to face Aston Villa as Ola Aina replacement is found
Gary Neville disagrees with Roy Keane in predicting Nottingham Forest defeat
Keane received special treatment from Brian Clough in his playing days at Forest and has continued to show affection for the club in his punditry role too.
However, it’s understandable to find Forest’s trip to Villa Park a difficult one for the likes of Keane and Neville to predict, leading to a difference of opinion in their Super 6 predictions on The Overlap.
Keane said: “That’s a tough one, Villa vs Forest”, an opinion shared by fellow pundits Ian Wright and Jill Scott before eventually landing on a 1-1 draw for the game.
Contrastingly, Neville seemed fairly confident in his prediction, immediately saying: “I think Villa will win,” before Jamie Carragher agreed, adding: “2-0” to their shared thoughts on the match.
Any Reds fans worried about this call shouldn’t be concerned, though, given Neville’s track record on Forest predictions this season.
Gary Neville has a poor record with Nottingham Forest predictions
Most recently, talk has of course been surrounding the return of Champions League football to the City Ground, but this hasn’t seen the former Manchester United right-back particularly sure of Forest’s abilities.
Bizarrely, Neville predicted Forest to lose to Ipswich before the international break, a game they went on to win quite comfortably 4-1. Neville also expected Forest to drop out of the Champions League places but with time ticking in the season, that looks to be another that won’t be looked back at fondly.
To his credit, Neville didn’t expect Forest to be relegated like some of his colleagues in the pundit world, but that is more of a prediction that states the obvious in hindsight.
Perhaps the 50-year-old is considering Marcus Rashford’s form against Forest as a factor but whatever it is, it seems that Espirito Santo and his Forest squad will just have to prove Neville wrong once more.
