Nottingham Forest are sweating on the fitness of Jesse Lingard ahead of their New Year’s Day clash with Chelsea.
The summer signing was forced off in the second half of Tuesday night’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester United, having been wearing heavy strapping on his right thigh. Head coach Steve Cooper said afterwards he was hopeful it was “fatigue in his hamstring”, but the Reds are still waiting for a proper diagnosis.
Any doubt over Lingard would leave Cooper short of attacking options, given Morgan Gibbs-White is expected to be out “for a little while” with a calf problem. Forest are already without long-term absentees Omar Richards (hairline fracture of the leg), Giulian Biancone (ACL), Moussa Niakhate and Cheikhou Kouyate (both hamstring).
