Key events
Nottingham Forest have reached their first European semi-final for 42 years. It was a nervy night at the City Ground but Morgan Gibbs-White’s 12-minute strike proved just enough to get Forest past 10-man Porto. Villa up next.
Let’s start with Aston Villa cruising past Bologna. Ollie Watkins reached a couple of landmarks in the 4-0 win and perhaps gave Thomas Tuchel a nudge.
Preamble
Good morning! Aside from Liverpool’s predictable exit to PSG, it’s been a rather excellent week for English teams in their respective European quarter-finals. Arsenal limped made it through against Sporting in the Champions League, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest set up an all-English Europa League semi-final after seeing off Bologna and Porto respectively and Crystal Palace, despite defeat on the night at Fiorentina, went through 4-2 on aggregate to reach the last four of the Conference League.
We’ll reflect on those successes and then turn to a Premier League run-in where there’s all sorts on the line this weekend. Will in-form Brighton bash another nail into Tottenham’s relegation coffin? Who will have bragging rights after the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium? And will Manchester City send already highly tetchy Arsenal fans apopletic by playing sexy Cherki football and winning Sunday’s title showdown at the Etihad? All that, plus team news, features and much more. Let’s go!