Aston Villa v Nott'm Forest

Forest were kicking a ball nine years before Villa's cricketers even thought to swap their stumps for goalposts.

A group of shinney players in Nottingham formed a football club in 1865, making Forest one of the oldest clubs in the world. Aston Villa followed in 1874, founded by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel cricket team in Handsworth, Birmingham. Both clubs would become pillars of English football before the century was out.

When William McGregor proposed the Football League in 1888, both Villa and Forest were among its twelve founding members.

When William McGregor of Aston Villa proposed the formation of the Football League in 1888, both Villa and Forest were among the twelve founding members. Villa won the first league title in 1893-94 and would claim it seven times in total. Forest's early league years were more modest, but the shared origin story gave this fixture an institutional significance from the very start.

Villa's Double triumph of 1896-97 made them only the second club in history to claim league and cup in a single season.

Aston Villa won the league and FA Cup Double in 1896-97, only the second club to achieve the feat. That same year they moved to Villa Park in Aston, the ground that would become the permanent home of this fixture. Forest, meanwhile, had won the FA Cup in 1898, beating Derby County 3-1 at Crystal Palace. Both clubs entered the 20th century as established forces.

Forest climbed Wembley's steps in 1959, lifting the FA Cup against Luton, even as both clubs spent much of this era scrapping through the lower divisions.

The mid-20th century was turbulent for both clubs. Villa were relegated from the First Division in 1936 and spent years bouncing between divisions. Forest won the FA Cup in 1959, beating Luton Town 2-1 at Wembley, but also experienced their share of lower-league football. The fixture was often contested outside the top flight during this period, though it lost none of its edge.

From Second Division obscurity to back-to-back European Cups; Clough did not rebuild Forest so much as reinvent what a football club could become.

Brian Clough's appointment as Nottingham Forest manager in January 1975 changed everything. He took Forest from the Second Division to the First Division title in 1977-78, then won back-to-back European Cups in 1979 and 1980. Villa, under Ron Saunders, won the First Division title in 1980-81. Suddenly, fixtures between these two clubs carried continental weight.

Two European champions, both from the Midlands, meeting in the league. English football has never seen anything like it.

Peter Withe's goal against Bayern Munich in Rotterdam gave Aston Villa the European Cup in May 1982. It was a staggering achievement for a club managed by Tony Barton with a squad built largely from the lower divisions. Villa and Forest now shared an extraordinary distinction: two clubs from the English Midlands, both European champions, regularly facing each other in the league. No other domestic fixture in English football could claim the same.

Forest's first Premier League season ended in relegation; Villa's ended in a runners-up medal.

Both clubs were founding members of the Premier League in 1992. Villa established themselves as consistent top-half finishers under Ron Atkinson and then John Gregory, finishing as runners-up in 1992-93. Forest, however, were relegated in the Premier League's first season, returned, then went down again in 1999. It would be 23 years before they came back.

Twenty-four years of top-flight football, gone in a single season; suddenly Villa and Forest were sharing the same unhappy postcode.

Aston Villa's relegation in 2015-16 ended a 24-year unbroken run in the Premier League. They dropped into the Championship, where Forest had been languishing since 1999. The two clubs met regularly in the second tier, renewing acquaintances in a division neither wanted to be in. Villa returned to the Premier League in 2019 via the play-offs under Dean Smith.

Twenty-three years between top-flight meetings; Forest ended the wait with a single Wembley goal.

Nottingham Forest won promotion via the Championship play-offs in May 2022, beating Huddersfield Town 1-0 at Wembley to end their 23-year exile from the top flight. The Villa Park fixture was back on the Premier League calendar for the first time since 1999. Both clubs have since established themselves as competitive top-flight sides, with Villa qualifying for the Champions League in 2023-24 under Unai Emery.

Forty years on, both clubs have earned their way back to the top table; the M42 derby means everything again.

With Villa competing in the Champions League and Forest firmly re-established in the Premier League, this fixture has regained the stature it held in the early 1980s. Villa Park on matchday is a ground transformed under Emery, the Holte End in full voice. Forest, under Nuno Espírito Santo, have shown they belong at this level. Two clubs with European pedigree, separated by the M42, writing the next chapter of a rivalry that stretches back to the very origins of league football.