Unai Emery believes Marcus Rashford is gradually understanding what is required of him after he hit scoring form for Aston Villa.

Rashford netted twice in Villa's FA Cup victory over Preston North End and followed that brace up with the opener in a 3-0 Premier League win over Brighton on Tuesday.

That strike was his first league goal for his new club, having joined on loan from Manchester United in February.

And Emery thinks Rashford is showing a greater understanding what he needs to do to lead Villa's attack.

"This is the challenge he has. He is getting better and feeling confident, understanding our demands," Emery said.

"We are trying to get the best out of the players. His qualities and experience are very important in our squad. Each match he plays for us is very important.

"We are trying to get stronger than we did during the season in the Premier League. We have to try to get balance now.

"The players were committed to the demands we have and we can feel proud of how the players work today."

Since February 2, when Villa signed Rashford, he has directly contributed to seven goals in all competitions.

In that same time, only four Premier League players have contributed to more goals.

Rashford will look to take his strong form into an intriguing clash with Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Nuno Espirito Santo's team are flying high in third place and have a fantastic chance of securing Champions League qualification.

Indeed, Opta's supercomputer gives Forest a 52.6% chance of finishing third, and a 24.4% likelihood of rounding out the season in fourth, though fifth place is likely to be enough to seal a place in next season's Champions League.

However, Nuno will be without 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 a while. He's not going to be available," Nuno said.

"[We will miss] his qualities, talent, the routines he already has with his teammates. We're going to miss him."

A resounding win for in-form Villa, who leapfrog Brighton and move into seventh in the Premier League.

Unai Emery's men have won back-to-back Premier League away games for the first 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 involved in seven goals in seven appearances against Forest.

All of these goal contributions have come while he was playing for Man United (three goals, four assists).

Nottingham Forest - Chris Wood

Wood has scored three goals in six Premier League starts against Villa, all of which came while playing for Burnley between 2019 and 2021.

Away from home, he has had a hand in 10 goals this season for Forest (eight goals, two assists) with only Bryan Roy (six goals, five assists in 1994-95) and Stan Collymore (nine goals, four assists in 1994-95) scoring and assisting more in a season.

MATCH PREDICTION: ASTON VILLA WIN

Forest's away win Premier League win percentage this season is 54%, the first time it’s been above 50% in a top-flight season (P15 W8). Their away goals per game ratio (1.73) is their third best in a top-flight season, behind 1909-10 (1.84) and 1988-89 (1.74).

However, Villa are unbeaten in their last 14 home Premier League matches (W7 D7) since losing to Arsenal in August.

Emery has already had a 17-game unbeaten run at Villa Park between March and December 2023 and could be the first Villa manager since Ron Saunders in 1976-77 (18) and 1980-81 (15) to have two separate runs of 15 unbeaten top-flight home games.

But after their 2-1 win at the City Ground in December, Forest are looking to complete their first league double over Villa since 1984-85.

Villa are unbeaten in their last eight home league games against Forest (W5 D3) since a 2-0 loss in October 1994. They have scored at least twice in each of the last seven at Villa Park.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Aston Villa - 46.1%

Nottingham Forest - 29.1%

Draw - 24.8%