Villa's nearly men entering their defining momentpublished at 19:21 BST

19:21 BST

Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest (agg 0-1, 20:00 BST)

Nick MashiterBBC Sport football news reporter

Aston Villa's squad are entering a defining moment under manager Unai Emery.

Trailing 1-0 going into Thursday's Europa League semi-final second leg, a 30-year trophy drought hangs around the club's neck.

There is a growing sense it is this squad's last chance to end it.

Nine of the current squad started Emery's first game - a 3-1 win over Manchester United in November 2022 - with John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara coming off the bench.

Six of those players started against Forest last week, Villa suffering a first-leg defeat.

Stability has underpinned Villa's success under former Arsenal boss Emery, who took over when the club were 14th and three points above the relegation zone.

But as they stumble just before the biggest game of his reign, has Emery taken this group as far as he can?

Read more here.

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