Nottingham Forest have “quite a few” injury doubts ahead of Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup tie with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
A place in the semi-finals of the competition is up for grabs at the City Ground (7.45pm kick-off), and the Reds also have a crunch Premier League clash against Leicester City to come on Saturday. But in addition to dealing with a number of long-term absentees, head coach Steve Cooper is sweating on the fitness of other players this week.
Morgan Gibbs-White suffered a recurrence of a calf problem and was not involved in Saturday’s FA Cup defeat at Blackpool, while striker Taiwo Awoniyi was also absent after being forced off with a groin issue in the midweek victory over Southampton. Defender Neco Williams was in the starting XI at Bloomfield Road but was substituted late on after taking a blow to the nose.
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Omar Richards (hairline fracture of the leg), Giulian Biancone (ACL), Moussa Niakhate and Cheikhou Kouyate (both hamstring) remain sidelined, while Jesse Lingard is midway through his recovery and expected to be missing for a month with a hamstring injury.
“We’ve got a few doubts. I’m not going to go into individual names, because there’s quite a few doubts going into this week,” said head coach Steve Cooper. “And it’s too soon to give any definitive information.
“We will try to give everyone the best opportunity to play in the games this week, whether it be Wednesday or Saturday. If that’s not the case, then we carry on.
“It’s not been a great time, if I’m being honest, on the medical front. That seems to be continuing, unfortunately, as these things sometimes can.
“We’ll do our very best not to let it get in our way. We’re not one for excuses. We’re looking for positivity and good solutions. Whatever players are available will do their best.”
Injuries had played a part in Cooper’s team selection against the Seasiders, when he named a completely different side from the one which started the 1-0 win at St Mary’s. He insisted afterwards he had no regrets about that decision, but had blasted the performance as “unacceptable”.
Asked if that could affect his line-up plans against Wolves, he added: “Yes and no. They are two different situations.
“The Blackpool game came at the end of a busy week, where we played on the Sunday and then again on the Wednesday, so then to go again on a Saturday is not something you normally do. In a three-game week, you normally get at least three days between at least two of the games, and that wasn’t the case.
“Because of the injury list, I couldn’t run the risk of picking up more injuries. But, at the same time, the team we put out was more than capable of winning that match. I say that with complete respect to Blackpool, who did well on the day.
“As disappointing as it was, I’m not narrow-minded enough to think it’s like that every day with those players, because it’s not. Because of that, I have to trust that they don’t let it happen again and we move forward to the next game, trying to pick the right team to play for the game plan which is needed to be successful against Wolves.”
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