Forest host Aston Villa at the City Ground in a stunning all-English first leg as each side aims to book their place against Braga or Freiburg in the final at Besiktas Park in Istanbul on May 20th.
Villa are aiming to progress to their first European final since beating Bayern Munich in the 1982 European Cup, whilst Premier League rivals Forest enter their first major European semi-final since 1984.
Emery all praise for Forest
Emery’s side are the competition’s highest scorers thus far with 24 goals, just one ahead of Nottingham Forest as he seeks to continue that momentum.
Speaking first on how he is feeling for the match tomorrow, Emery said he praised Forest and admits he knows it will be a tight affair.
"It is a key moment in this competition. How we have been performing has been fantastic, but now the semi-final is 50-50 between the two teams. It is very important for both sides.
"Nottingham Forest have great history in Europe, having won the Champions League, and we have our own history as well, though not recently. Now, both teams want to keep doing something important in Europe.
"I expect a difficult match and a very intelligent match. We must play intelligently and try to enjoy it too - we must enjoy the preparation, the match itself, after the match, and the days between the legs."
Onana could return
He next revealed some team news ahead of the clash, firstly on Amadou Onana, who missed Villa’s 1-0 defeat against Fulham due to a minor knee injury.
"We train this afternoon and will see how he is responding - whether he feels good enough to play tomorrow.
"He was tested yesterday, and we will assess him again today to see how he is feeling and whether we can get players carrying knocks ready to play tomorrow."
On Boubacar Kamara: "We were not expecting Kamara to be out for so long, but that's how it has turned out and we have to accept it. The injuries to Youri Tielemans and John McGinn were only short-term in comparison to Kamara's."
Villa have won 15 of their last 17 European matches, including each of their last nine, which is the longest winning streak in the club’s UEFA history and an English record in the Europa League proper.
Emery is also the only manager in Europa League history to win the competition four times and he certainly knows what he is doing this year as he forges a path to the final.