Unai Emery believes Marcus Rashford is regularly understanding what’s required of him after he hit scoring type for Aston Villa.
Rashford netted twice in Villa’s FA Cup victory over Preston North Finish and adopted that brace up with the opener in a 3-0 Premier League win over Brighton on Tuesday.
That strike was his first league purpose for his new membership, having joined on mortgage from Manchester United in February.
And Emery thinks Rashford is exhibiting a better understanding what he must do to guide Villa’s assault.
“That is the problem he has. He’s getting higher and feeling assured, understanding our calls for,” Emery mentioned.
“We try to get the very best out of the gamers. His qualities and expertise are crucial in our squad. Every match he performs for us is essential.
“We try to get stronger than we did in the course of the season within the Premier League. Now we have to attempt to get steadiness now.
“The gamers had been dedicated to the calls for we’ve and we are able to really feel pleased with how the gamers work as we speak.”
Since February 2, when Villa signed Rashford, he has straight contributed to seven targets in all competitions.
In that very same time, solely 4 Premier League gamers have contributed to extra targets.
Rashford will look to take his sturdy type into an intriguing conflict with Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s staff are flying excessive in third place and have a improbable likelihood of securing Champions League qualification.
Certainly, Opta’s supercomputer provides Forest a 52.6% likelihood of ending third, and a 24.4% probability of rounding out the season in fourth, although fifth place is prone to be sufficient to seal a spot in subsequent season’s Champions League.
Nevertheless, Nuno will probably be with out full-back Ola Aina, who went off injured in Tuesday’s win over Man United.
“We already did the scan, and he’s going to be out some time. He’s not going to be out there,” Nuno mentioned.
“[We will miss] his qualities, expertise, the routines he already has together with his teammates. We’re going to overlook him.”
A convincing win for in-form Villa, who leapfrog Brighton and transfer into seventh within the Premier League.
Unai Emery’s males have gained back-to-back Premier League away video games for the primary time since August.#BRIAVL pic.twitter.com/d5w3Iyky2k
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) April 2, 2025
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Aston Villa – Marcus Rashford
In all competitions, Rashford has been concerned in seven targets in seven appearances in opposition to Forest.
All of those purpose contributions have come whereas he was taking part in for Man United (three targets, 4 assists).
Nottingham Forest – Chris Wooden
Wooden has scored three targets in six Premier League begins in opposition to Villa, all of which got here whereas taking part in for Burnley between 2019 and 2021.
Away from dwelling, he has had a hand in 10 targets this season for Forest (eight targets, two assists) with solely Bryan Roy (six targets, 5 assists in 1994-95) and Stan Collymore (9 targets, 4 assists in 1994-95) scoring and aiding extra in a season.
MATCH PREDICTION: ASTON VILLA WIN
Forest’s away win Premier League win proportion this season is 54%, the primary time it’s been above 50% in a top-flight season (P15 W8). Their away targets per recreation ratio (1.73) is their third finest in a top-flight season, behind 1909-10 (1.84) and 1988-89 (1.74).
Nevertheless, Villa are unbeaten of their final 14 dwelling Premier League matches (W7 D7) since shedding to Arsenal in August.
Emery has already had a 17-game unbeaten run at Villa Park between March and December 2023 and may very well be the primary Villa supervisor since Ron Saunders in 1976-77 (18) and 1980-81 (15) to have two separate runs of 15 unbeaten top-flight dwelling video games.
However after their 2-1 win on the Metropolis Floor in December, Forest need to full their first league double over Villa since 1984-85.
Villa are unbeaten of their final eight dwelling league video games in opposition to Forest (W5 D3) since a 2-0 loss in October 1994. They’ve scored at the very least twice in every of the final seven at Villa Park.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Aston Villa – 46.1%
Nottingham Forest – 29.1%
Draw – 24.8%
