Brennan Johnson has “a small chance” of being available for Nottingham Forest’s clash with Newcastle United on Friday night.
The attacker was forced off in the second half of the Reds’ 3-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, suffering from a groin strain. He has undergone a scan this week and wasn’t involved in an open training session on Tuesday. However, he has been called up by Wales for their upcoming matches, and head coach Steve Cooper is not completely ruling him out of facing the Magpies at the City Ground.
The Reds hope to soon have some of their other injured players back available. Moussa Niakhate (hamstring) was an unused substitute in north London, while Cheikhou Kouyate (hamstring) has been involved in training and Ryan Yates (illness) played an hour for the Under-21s on Monday as he builds up his fitness.
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“Brennan has had a scan; when you have a scan it tells you something, but you also have to treat the player,” said Cooper, ahead of his team’s final match before the international break. “It's unlikely Brennan will be involved at the weekend, but there's a small chance and we want to give him every chance to see if he is available.
“If he is, then great, we will use him. If not, then it is one of those things. We are not completely ruling him out but when you walk off with a bit of a muscle injury it can take a little bit longer than a week to recover, so we'll see.
“If he’s not available, of course it would be disappointing, but these things do happen. We would love all of our players to be available and vying to be in the team. On that front, it hasn’t gone so well in the last couple of months, but like I always say, you have to focus on the guys who are available to play. They get maximum attention from myself and the staff.”
Striker Chris Wood came off just six minutes after entering the fray as a substitute against Spurs, having been left with a big lump on his thigh after a knock. He would not be eligible to feature on Friday regardless, however, as while an obligation to buy has been activated, he is still technically on loan from Newcastle.
“Chris wouldn't have been able to play through injury,” Cooper said. “But at the same time he wouldn't have been eligible to play because of the registration of the loan.
“Other players have been back in training, Moussa Niakhate for example, Yatesy has been coming on in games and giving us as much as he is permitted to. They are getting stronger as weeks go on. Whether they are quite ready enough to start, I am not too sure, but we will think about it between now and the game.
“Cheikhou is back in training. He did a little bit of part training last week and has been in more full training this week, but he has been out for a good few months. It's good to have him back because he's a good character and you can see the influence he has on the group.”
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