Europa League: Forest to play Villa in semi as Palace reach Conference last four

There will be a club from the Midlands in the final of the Europa League after it was confirmed that Aston Villa will play Nottingham Forest in the last four. 

Crystal Palace, meanwhile, are in the semi-finals of the Europa Confernce League and, with Arsenal reaching the last progressing in the Champions League this week, there are now four Premier League clubs in European semi-finals.

Forest and Villa set for Europa League semi-final showdown

Villa are 4/51.80 favourites to win the tournament after sweeping aside Bologna 7-1 on aggregate in their quarter-final.

In Unai Emery, the Premier League club have a manager who has won the competition four times, with Sevilla and, most recently, Villarreal. 

Forest got through via a 1-0 win over Porto at the City Ground, which followed their 1-1 draw in Portugal in the first leg.

They are 7/24.50 for Europa glory - a potentially extraordinary end to a chaotic season which has seen them change manager three times.

Vitor Pereira deserves credit for steering Forest away from danger in the Premier League and continuing their progress in Europe. 

Forest and Villa drew 1-1 at the City Ground last weekend in the Premier League so both teams know there may not be much in their two-legged seni-final tie, although Villa won 3-1 when the teams met in January in the reverse league fixture. 

The first leg will take place on Thursday 30 April at the City Ground before the teams meet again one week later at Villa Park. 

Last year, Tottenham beat Manchester United and, while there will be only one Premier League club in the final this season, the English clubs' dominance of the Europa League is impressive.

In the other semi-final, German club Freiburg take on Portugal's Braga. The winner of the Europa League will qualify for next season's Champions League.

Glasner could still end Palace reign with second trophy

Crystal Palace are another English club that could end a season of chaos with a European trophy after they reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League. 

The South London club are 5/42.25 favourites to win the tournament after coming through their tie with Fiorentina. Palace lost the second leg 2-1 in Italy but their three goal cushion from the first meant they went through. They will play Shakhtar Donetsk in the last four.

Manager Oliver Glasner is leaving Palace at the end of the season, and could have left earlier this term when results were going against the team, but a recent upturn in the performances has given them momentum at just the right time. 

Palace won the FA Cup under Glasner last season and the Austrian will believe that he can go out on a high by delivering the Eagles their first European trophy. 

Now read Mark Stinchcombe's Premier League Saturday tipsheet