Nottinghamshire

Melissa Edwards
BBC Sport journalist

Nottingham Forest boss Oliver Glasner has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Aston Villa at Villa Park (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Nicolo Savona remains the only player sidelined with his knee inury. The defender has faced a few set-backs but has "reacted fine" to slow rehabilitation.

• Glasner said he is not happy with the explanation given by the Premier League to rule out Forest's goal against Tottenham last week for a handball by Neco Williams. However, the Austrian accepted the decision as it is a "democracy", and says the incident is "in the past".

• Forest have scored two goals in three Premier League matches, and Glasner says his team are missing "the final bit" in goalscoring situations and his solution is to create more of those situations.

• On squad depth, Glasner said: "Every position is occupied by two players. We have plenty of options which is positive, the new players are doing well and we can see they're training well every week. We can see how much of a positive impact Xaver Schlager has had so far. We want competition everywhere."

• Glasner also added that he was "surprised" by Schlager's start to the season after a difficult end to the 2025-26 campaign for the midfielder, and that his biggest strength is "trying to improve".

• On Jair Cunha receiving his first national team call-up for Brazil, he said: "It's a huge achievement for him at 21-years-old. You can see how quickly things can happen in football. We've been together for around two months and from day one he was listening, working hard and asking what he can improve."

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Nottingham Forest head coach Oliver Glasner has praised Jair Cunha's "willingness to learn" after the defender received a first Brazil call up.

Brazil take on Australia twice and face India over the international break from late September into early October.

Cunha, 21, has won age-group caps for Brazil but has never had a senior call-up.

Speaking to BBC Radio Nottingham's Colin Fray, Glasner said his advice will be for Cunha to "enjoy" the experience.

"Show who you are," said Glasner. "Show your strength. If you are called by, not just Brazil but Carlo Ancelotti, definitely one of the most successful and experienced managers in the world, you definitely deserve it.

"This would be my advice, play with confidence, train with confidence and enjoy the time."

Glasner's primary focus however will be helping Forest to a first win of their league campaign when they visit Aston Villa on Saturday. The Reds have not won at Villa Park since 1994.

"We are feeling we are dong well," said Glasner. "We know we can do better in a few parts of the game, especially the final third to create more chances and goals. We go there to get the win, with this confidence but every single Premier League game is this huge challenge.

"It's clear if something hasn't happened since 1994, it's definitely time to change it. We will be highly motivated to not be talking about these statistics anymore."

Listen to Glasner speak with Fray below or here on BBC Sounds

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The Premier League has announced it will stage seven matches on Boxing Day this year after releasing its festive schedule.

Four fixtures will be staged at 15:00 GMT, with further matches played at 12:30, 17:30 and 20:00.

The fixture programme for 26 December, which falls on a Saturday in 2026, is considerably bigger than last year, when one game was held.

Three matches will be played on Sunday, 27 December, while three further rounds of games will be held over a period up to Thursday, 7 January.

A round of evening midweek fixtures will staged on 29-30 December, while Leeds will host Everton (20:00) for the only match on New Year's Day.

The remainder of that round will be held over the weekend of 2-3 January, with the fourth round of games spread across the evenings of 5-7 January.

The Premier League has brought forward the announcement of fixture scheduling over the Christmas and New Year period after consultation with both broadcast partners and the Football Supporters' Association and representatives from club Fan Advisory Boards.

Television scheduling for Premier League fixtures has been announced up to Monday, 2 November, with broadcast selections for the remaining games in November and December to be announced in the weeks commencing 21 September and 19 October respectively.

The Premier League has guaranteed clubs at least a 60-hour break between fixtures over the festive period to address the concerns over a congested festive schedule that follows recent expansions of the European and international calendars.

Premier League Christmas and New Year schedule

Saturday, 26 December

12:30 Aston Villa v Leeds

15:00 Everton v Sunderland

15:00 Fulham v Brighton

15:00 Ipswich v Brentford

15:00 Spurs v AFC Bournemouth

17:30 Hull v Liverpool

20:00 Newcastle v Manchester City

Sunday, 27 December

14:00 Coventry v Chelsea

16:30 Manchester Utd v Nottingham Forest

19:00 Crystal Palace v Arsenal

Tuesday, 29 December

19:30 Hull v Leeds

19:30 Spurs v Brighton

20:15 Everton v Manchester City

Wednesday, 30 December

19:30 Coventry v Brentford

19:30 Crystal Palace v AFC Bournemouth

19:30 Fulham v Arsenal

19:30 Manchester United v Sunderland

19:30 Newcastle v Nottingham Forest

20:15 Aston Villa v Liverpool

20:15 Ipswich v Chelsea

Friday, 1 January

20:00 Leeds v Everton

Saturday, 2 January

12:30 Brighton v Manchester United

15:00 Arsenal v Ipswich

15:00 Brentford v Crystal Palace

15:00 Liverpool v Coventry

15:00 Nottingham Forest v Fulham

15:00 Sunderland v Hull

17:30 AFC Bournemouth v Aston Villa

Sunday, 3 January

14:00 Chelsea v Newcastle

16:30 Manchester City v Spurs

Tuesday, 5 January

19:30 Arsenal v Brentford

19:30 Brighton v AFC Bournemouth

19:30 Everton v Aston Villa

19:30 Nottingham Forest v Hull

20:15 Sunderland v Liverpool

Wednesday, 6 January

19:30 Crystal Palace v Chelsea

19:30 Fulham v Spurs

19:30 Ipswich v Coventry

20:15 Leeds v Manchester City

Thursday, 7 January

20:00 Manchester United v Newcastle

Nick Mashiter
Football news reporter

The latest on Nottingham Forest's planned stadium work has been the subject of several questions sent in via our Ask Me Anything form for the Reds.

Well, the redevelopment of the City Ground is getting closer, with Rushcliffe Borough Council's planning committee meeting on 16 September to consider the club's proposals to raise the capacity to over 50,000.

The applications is for full planning permission to redevelop the Peter Taylor Stand and Trent End and for "demolition of existing buildings/structures".

Forest are also seeking planning permission to redevelop the Brian Clough Stand in the future.

The plans have the backing of local residents and the city's MPs so the development is expected to be granted. It is a case of going through the right process - which takes time.

Of course, it was hoped worked would have started in the summer, but it is a complex process, with things like transport plans to take into consideration when there are an extra 20,000 fans in the area.

An awful lot of work has gone on behind the scenes so once the plans are given the green light they can proceed.

We could see a little work start during the season but, given the Premier League campaign is under way, nothing significant is expected to start until next summer.

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Former Nottingham Forest winger Paul Anderson says Oliver Glasner "has the personnel" to play his preferred wing-back system, but believes it will "take time" to fully bear its fruits.

"I've been coaching for over five years now and I love the formation," he told BBC Radio Nottingham's Shut Up And Show More Football podcast.

"It allows you to outnumber an opposition team anywhere on the pitch. It also gives you the option of having two strikers - one of which can drop into the middle of the pitch and give you the option of four midfielders.

"That way, you can either overload the middle of the pitch or go man-to-man when you're playing against a back four.

"You've got to have the personnel to play it, though. You've got to have intelligent players that can drop in and work off each other, and your wing-backs have to be fit.

"It probably would have suited me as a player because I was quite a defensive winger anyway. It would have been hard work, but I would have loved it."

Despite the Reds failing to win any of their opening three league matches this season, Anderson did highlight some positives.

"Nottingham Forest have very strong centre-backs at the minute," he said.

"I've been very impressed by Jair Cunha as well, he has been making it hard for Ousmane Diomande to make it into the team, despite the club spending money on him.

"There is always going to be a question mark over Murillo's fitness, but if he is fit and at 100% then this formation suits him perfectly. The same goes for Nikola Milenkovic - it is perfect for him.

"It also suits the midfield. It is a formation which is going to allow Morgan Gibbs-White and James McAtee more space in there.

"So they definitely have players in the squad who can do a job in this formation, it is just going to take time to come together."

Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds here

Former Forest winger Paul Anderson has joined BBC Radio Nottingham for their latest instalment of the Shut Up And Show More Football podcast.

Alongside regular hosts David Jackson and Colin Fray, Anderson discusses wing-backs, VAR and the City Ground.

Listen below or on BBC Sounds here - and don't forget to subscribe to get each episode into your My Sounds feed.

Explore all Nottingham Forest content on BBC Sounds

Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent

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Nottingham Forest should not have been awarded a penalty at Liverpool for Alisson's challenge on Neco Williams, the Premier League's Key Match Incidents Panel has said.

But the KMI Panel added that the decision did not reach the threshold for a video assistant referee intervention, so Michael Oliver was correct not to send referee Sam Barrott to the pitchside monitor.

Williams was brought down by Alisson after releasing a shot in the 68th minute.

Morgan Gibbs-White scored to put Forest 2-1 in front, before Victor Munoz secured a 2-2 draw for Liverpool with an 82nd-minute equaliser.

The KMI Panel voted 3:2 that Barrott should not have given the penalty, but supported the VAR outcome 5:0.

It is possible for the panel to judge them differently because a VAR intervention has a higher threshold than an on-field decision.

"The contact from Alisson was inevitable as a consequence of his momentum in attempting to save the ball," the KMI Panel said. "The contact made was not reckless and below the threshold for a penalty.

"However, the non intervention by the VAR was unanimously supported on the basis that it was not a clear and obvious error."