Vitor Pereira knows he still needs to strike a balance between Nottingham Forest's Premier League survival bid and their quest for Europa League glory. 

Forest travel to the Estadio Do Dragao on Thursday to face Porto in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie, days before welcoming Aston Villa to the City Ground.

Forest have struggled in the Premier League, sitting three points above the relegation zone despite thumping Tottenham 3-0 before the international break. 

On the continent, however, it has been a different story, as they have reached their fifth major European quarter-final and their first since the 1995-96 UEFA Cup. 

According to the Opta supercomputer, Forest are currently assigned an 8.9% chance of being relegated from the Premier League, which is slightly lower than their chance of winning the Europa League (10%) and as a result, reaching the Champions League.

"The priority is to win the next game and the next game is tomorrow," Pereira told reporters. 

"The Europa League is very important, and it is very important to keep the club in the Premier League.

"I need to find the balance between the two competitions. This is the only way; the only way to compete tomorrow and again in three days' time, against Aston Villa.

"The players have to feel they are important and have the qualities and conditions to compete and to help the club at this moment."

Forest's only previous European away game in Portugal was at Braga in January this season, a match they lost 1-0, and they can expect another stern test here.

That is because Porto are one of three sides with a 100% home record in the Europa League this season, along with Aston Villa and Freiburg, winning all five games.

Only once have they won six home games in a single European season, doing so in 2010-11 on their way to winning the Europa League.

But Forest's chances of taking a first-leg lead have been boosted by the return of Chris Wood, who last played for Forest when Ange Postecoglou was in charge. 

Wood has been sidelined since October and had knee surgery in December but has travelled to Portugal, though Pereira played down the chances of him starting the match. 

"He has started to train with the team. He is available for the game," Pereira added.

"He is working with us, we need to manage him a little bit physically, but he has travelled. It means he is available to be in the game tomorrow.

"He is an experienced player, he scores goals, and it's important to be ready for the team at this moment, because we face a lot of challenges."