Aston Villa are looking for their first win of the Premier League season as they get ready to host Nottingham Forest on Saturday at Villa Park.
Since Unai Emery arrived at the club, Villa’s record versus Forest has been strong, especially at home, where they have won all five games by an aggregate score of 15-4, including a 4-0 win in the Europa League semi final second leg earlier this year.
However, this is not the same Forest side they have faced in recent seasons.
Having previously matched up with managers such as Steve Cooper, Nuno Espirito Santo, Sean Dyche and Vitor Pereira in the opposite dugout, Emery will face Oliver Glasner this weekend, which has spelled danger in the past.
Emery has yet to beat Glasner in his managerial career in seven meetings, all of which came when the Austrian was managing Crystal Palace, and has lost five of those encounters. No manager has faced off against Emery more often and gone unbeaten.
As well as going unbeaten in Premier League matchups, Glasner’s Palace side knocked Villa out of both domestic cup competitions in the 2024/25 season, as Emery has seemingly struggled against the back three Glasner usually deploys.
There is some context to add. The first fixture between the two managers, which ended in a 5-0 Palace win, came on the final day of the 2023/24 season when Villa had already secured Champions League football and had been in celebratory mood.
Another of the losses was an early-round Carabao Cup affair in which Villa made a host of changes, and there was also a 3-0 loss at Villa Park at the end of August 2025 which was clearly influenced by the uncertainty surrounding the team during the transfer window.
Still, the matchup against Glasner has consistently proved tricky for Emery, and given the slow start Villa have made to the season outside of Tuesday's Champions League victory over Club Brugge, this will not be as winnable a fixture as it may seem on paper.
Like Villa, the visitors are also looking for their first win of the season, although the underlying numbers in terms of expected goals (xG) show they are unlucky to only have picked up two points so far.
More specifically, they have only scored two goals this term despite an xG of over four, as Igor Jesus has underwhelmed up front and Liam Delap is still settling in. Villa will have to deal with the threat of Morgan Gibbs-White though, who is the straw that stirs the drink of Forest’s attack.
Perhaps Emery is facing Glaser at an opportune moment for once, as he works through the growing pains of implementing his system with a new side. For their part, Villa are also trying to bed in several new players and are not in top gear.
If either side is able to take all three points, it could be a significant launching pad for the rest of their season. If Emery is to finally get the better of Glasner, now would be an ideal time to do it.
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