Aston Villa are sweating on the fitness of key midfielder Amadou Onana ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final first leg against Nottingham Forest. Villa boss Unai Emery has admitted he does not know if the Belgian will be ready in time for the showdown at the City Ground after he was absent for their 1-0 defeat to Fulham on Saturday. Emery said: “I don’t know if he will be available for Thursday. It’s about how every day he is progressing. “I don’t know if he will be ready for tomorrow, Thursday or next Sunday. The only player we know can’t play is (Ross) Barkley as he is not in the list. “He (Onana) was not feeling good yesterday. He had some small pain.” WORLD CUP LEGENDS: The stars who lit up football’s greatest tournament – Buy the Special Edition today If Onana is out, it will be a boost for the Reds in the midfield battle. The 24-year-old had started Villa’s last nine Premier League games and all of their Europa League knockout matches to this point. Vitor Pereira has his own injury worries though, with centre-back Jair Cunha taken off with an arm injury during the win over Sunderland. That would be a blow with Murillo already set to be sidelined for this Thursday’s game. Pereira would be left to choose between Morato and Zach Abbott to start alongside Nikola Milenkovic at the back. It will be a momentous occasion at the City Ground on Thursday for what is the Reds’ first European semi-final in 42 years. Villa, meanwhile, are trying to reach their first major European final for 44 years. The winners of the two-legged tie will head to Istanbul for the final where they will take on either Freiburg or Sporting Braga. JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Get all the Nottingham Forest latest via our Facebook page