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In between serenading Unai Emery, who is hunting a record fifth Europa League title, and drinking in the celebrations, Villa supporters could think about booking flights to Istanbul, where Villa will face Freiburg in search of their first trophy since lifting the League Cup in 1996.

Villa had the “benefit of Buendía’s ice-cold mind,” wrote Will Unwin, who was at Villa Park to watch as the Argentinian kept his head as tempers raged around him.

double quotation markAston Villa settled sooner and an integral element of that was Buendía, a classy No 10 unfazed by swimming in a cauldron. He knows if he plays his own game, then good things will follow. Forest may have hoped to intimidate him but he was always eager to take the ball to feet, even with Elliot Anderson and others snapping at his heels.

Buendía encouraged the vociferous Villa fans to make more noise by throwing his arms up in the air during the first half, knowing the part they could play. It worked as the decibels grew, but creating the opener was a more successful method of testing the 129-year-old foundations. Receiving the ball on the edge of the box, Buendía weighed up his options and took the most difficult route, dazzling through two defenders before calmly slipping a pass to give Watkins the easiest of finishes.

Read the full analysis below.

Emiliano Buendía was the cool and calm that Villa needed to reach the Europa League final. Photograph: Neal Simpson/Getty Images/Allstar

The 2025-26 season may be ticking towards its end but there is still a whole lot to be decided. Championship playoffs begin with Hull v Millwall tonight before Middlesbrough take on Southampton in tomorrow’s lunchtime kick-off. The latter may be extra spicy given Boro made a formal complaint to the EFL alleging a man they believe to be a Southampton member of staff was spying on their training session yesterday.

In the Premier League, Manchester City hope to bounce back from their draw at Everton against Brentford. Arsenal will be keen for their title rivals to slip up before they face West Ham, who are facing the drop, on Sunday. There is also Women’s FA Cup action with Liverpool taking on Brighton before Chelsea host the newly crowned WSL champions, Manchester City. Plus some big rivalries ignite with the Old Firm derby at Celtic Park and el clásico returns at Camp Nou but Barcelona will be the least of Madrid fans’ worries, with a teammate rift causing ​spilled blood in the dressing room.​ More on that later.

There was plenty to chew on last night too.​ Vibrant and victorious Villa demolished Nottingham Forest’s hopes of charging into the Europa League final and edging closer to ending a 30-year major trophy drought.​ They will face Freiburg in the final in Istanbul on 20 May.

In the Conference League, Oliver Glasner’s chances of bowing out at Crystal Palace with a second trophy in two years were substantially enhanced ​with a 5-2 aggregate ​semi-final w​in. The Europa League place denied them last year is now in sight​, with Rayo Vallecano ​as their opponents in ​the final​ in Leipzig on 27 May.

So much reaction to get to, so much buildup to be across. To get you in the mood, here are​ our 10 Premier League things to look out for​.

​As always, if you have any thoughts, questions, predictions, complaints or anything else you want to share, then send them my way via email which you can find at the top of this blog. How do you expect your club to fare this weekend? And has the season gone as expected? I want to know.

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