Nottingham Forest 1-1 Aston Villa: Scrappy draw at the City Ground

Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa played out an entertaining, tense 1-1 draw at the City Ground on Sunday, with the point a better one for Forest than Villa. WATCH — Full match replay Villa took the lead through a Murillo own goal but Forest hung in there and equalized through a beauty from Neco Williams. Both teams had big chances to win it with Villa guilty of missing a couple of huge opportunities in the second half as Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins both smashes good chances over.

With the point Forest move on to 33 points and are three points above the relegation zone. Villa sit in fourth on 55 points and are still looking good for Champions League qualification. Potential Europa League semifinal will be tight These two teams could well meet in the semifinals of the UEFA Europa League in the coming weeks and there isn't much between them.

This was a very even encounter and Forest will be happy with the point but they did give up some massive chances which Villa couldn't convert. This time. Unai Emery's side will still fancy their chances of getting past Forest in the semifinals if they both advance in the Europa League but he will be a little concerned that both Watkins and Rogers are blowing a little a hot and cold at the moment.

What’s next? Forest host FC Porto on Thursday in the second leg of their Europa League quarterfinal with the tie locked at 1-1 and they then host Burnley next Sunday. Villa host Bologna on Thursday in the Europa League leading 3-1 from the first leg and they then host Sunderland next Sunday.