Nottingham Forest have been dealt another injury blow, with the news defender Scott McKenna faces up to five weeks out of action.
The 25-year-old was forced off late on in Wednesday night’s 3-1 victory over QPR. And he is now set for an extended period on the sidelines.
The Reds are already without fellow centre-back Steve Cook (ankle) for six weeks, while left-back Max Lowe (groin) will be absent for the same length of time - both having come off in the 4-0 thumping of Reading last weekend. Striker Lewis Grabban, however, is expected to return soon after the international break, having been missing since the end of January with an ankle strain.
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New experience
The City Ground will get its first taste of VAR on Sunday when Nottingham Forest host Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
It will also be the first time Reds boss Steve Cooper has encountered the system. And he plans to talk to his players about what effect it could have as they prepare to take on Jurgen Klopp’s side.
All of the last-eight ties will have a Video Assistant Referee and an Assistant VAR overseeing the games. Craig Pawson will be the man in the middle for Forest’s clash, while the VAR will be Andrew Madley and the AVAR will be Simon Bennett.
Opposition view
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has praised the work being done by Steve Cooper at Nottingham Forest, ahead of the teams meeting in the FA Cup on Sunday.
Cooper has overseen a remarkable rise up the Championship table since taking charge of the Reds in September. They moved to within one point of the play-off spots as a result of the midweek dismantling of QPR, when they triumphed 3-1 at the City Ground.
And Forest have also made it through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, having already seen off Arsenal, holders Leicester City and Huddersfield Town on their way to the last-eight. They host Klopp’s men on Sunday evening, with both sides battling to make it through to a semi-final at Wembley. It will be the first time the teams have faced each other since April 1999.
Accounts analysis
Nottingham Forest “will come under pressure” to make a significant player sale this summer if they do not secure promotion, it has been claimed.
The challenges of being competitive in the Championship, battling with teams who benefit from parachute payments, have been laid bare by football finance blogger Swiss Ramble, who has analysed their latest set of accounts. The Reds posted an operating loss of more than £34million when their accounts for the year ending June 2021 were posted earlier this month - a figure which was reduced to £15.5m pre-tax.
The accounts cover a 13-month period, rather than the usual 12-month timeframe, and reflect a full season of playing behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic. Swiss Ramble has compared Forest’s figures with other clubs in the Championship, as well as where they stand in remaining within the English Football League’s Profitability and Sustainability rules.
