Nottingham Forest have been handed a small piece of encouragement ahead of Saturday’s trip to Villa Park, with Aston Villa set to be without summer signing Leon Goretzka for the meeting with the Reds. The Germany midfielder has confirmed he will be sidelined until after the international break, meaning Unai Emery’s side will again field a midfield without one of the more experienced names they added this summer.
What Goretzka said
The 31-year-old, who joined Villa on a free transfer last month and is yet to make his debut, announced the setback in a post on his own Instagram account rather than through the club.
“Dear Villans, first of all, thank you for the incredible welcome,” he wrote. “After my first few days at this club, the feeling that I’m exactly where I’m meant to be has grown stronger with each passing day. Unfortunately, my body has reacted to the increased workload after my time away from the pitch. It’s frustrating, but I need this short break now to come back at full strength.”
He added: “I’ll use the coming days, including the international break, to recover fully and I’ll be back ready to fight and give everything for you and for Villa.”
According to the Nottingham Post, that rules him out of the 3pm kick-off against Forest. It is not a season-defining absence – Goretzka has not kicked a competitive ball for Villa yet, so nobody in claret and blue will be reorganising a side around him – but for a club still working out its best midfield balance, losing a player of that pedigree before he has even started is another small complication.
What it means for Forest
Not a great deal on its own, and the Reds know better than most that opposition injury news is worth very little until the whistle goes. What it does do is remove one possible variable from a fixture Oliver Glasner badly wants to get right.
Forest arrive at Villa Park still hunting a first win of the 2026/27 campaign. The opening-day defeat to Leeds United was followed by a Carabao Cup exit to the same opponents, then a spirited 2-2 draw at Liverpool and, last Saturday, a goalless afternoon against Tottenham Hotspur in which Neco Williams had a goal chalked off for handball following a VAR review. Two points from three league games undersells the performances; it does not undersell the need for three at some stage soon.
Glasner made his frustration at that Spurs afternoon clear afterwards, and the head coach has been consistent since arriving in July that the process matters more than the early table. The signs in midfield have been genuinely promising, too: James McAtee has been reinvented in a deeper role under the Austrian, taking the man-of-the-match award at Anfield and winning all three of his tackles against Spurs.
The bigger picture at Villa Park
Villa Park has rarely been a happy hunting ground for the Reds in the Premier League era, and this is the sort of away day where Glasner’s 3-4-2-1 – compact, quick in transition, dangerous from wide areas – ought to be well suited. Forest’s own fitness picture will become clearer once the international window closes and the squad reassembles at the Nigel Doughty Academy; Morgan Gibbs-White’s knee remains the one worth watching after the talisman’s issues in August.
For now, the news from the West Midlands is simply a reminder that everyone is patching something together at this stage of the season. Emery will get Goretzka back soon enough. Glasner’s priority is making sure the Tricky Trees have that first win banked before he does.
