Head coach Steve Cooper is pondering whether to ring the changes for Nottingham Forest’s trip to Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Reds travel south to face the Seagulls on Tuesday night (7.30pm kick-off) looking to end an eight-match winless run in the Premier League. And they are eager to quickly bounce back from Saturday’s disappointing 1-0 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
With such a quick turnaround from their trip to Molineux, and a home game against Liverpool to come at the weekend, Cooper is considering tweaking his starting XI at the Amex Stadium. But he does have a few injury doubts ahead of the match.
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Defensive duo Serge Aurier (muscle) and Renan Lodi (ankle sprain) will be given as much time as possible to recover from knocks. It is hoped midfielder Lewis O’Brien could also be available again, having missed the game at Wolves due to illness. Forest remain without Moussa Niakhate (hamstring) and Omar Richards (hairline fracture of the leg).
“We picked up some injuries last week, and we’re still not ready to make a final decision on whether those lads are back yet,” said Cooper. “But it’s a three-game week, so that’s sometimes a chance to use more players than normal. We are giving a few every chance to be available.
“Serge has had a bit of an accelerated programme since he came in without really having a pre-season, doing a few days, then going on international duty and playing minutes there, which was important.
“He played in the Leicester and Villa games. But it has all happened a bit quick, and when you do that you do tend to pick up some niggles, which is what he has. It's a muscle injury, so we will see what today and tomorrow bring.
“Renan is more of a contact injury than a muscle injury. That is just trying to give him every chance for the kick and the swelling to come down. When that happens, you tend to progress quickly.
“Lewis was different. He was ill with a bug, which really knocked him back. Hopefully he can recover quickly by getting the right nutrition into him and getting the right training programme, because he is a really fit lad.
“With it being Saturday-Tuesday, it’s definitely a possibility that we could look at making some changes. I haven’t made a final decision on that yet, because there’s still quite a bit of preparation to go before the game.
“But, for sure, we have options, even though we have picked up a few knocks in the last couple of weeks. Some players are getting a bit fitter and stronger as well - people like Orel Mangala. He’s had a couple of weeks without any disruption, which has been important because he’s had a frustrating six weeks or so since he got injured. He is getting stronger, with his training programme.
“All of these are things you always have to manage - injuries and availability - especially when they are games in quick succession. At the same time, we will try to do our work wisely and see where we are at come kick-off. We’ll look at what we think it takes to do well in the game, and try to pick the right team.”
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