Head coach Steve Cooper says he is “hopeful” Morgan Gibbs-White, Serge Aurier and Wayne Hennessey will be available for Nottingham Forest’s trip to face Manchester United.
The trio were absent on Wednesday night as the Reds eased into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup with a thumping 4-1 win over Blackburn Rovers. The squad now have almost a week before they are in action again, when they head to Old Trafford for their first Premier League game back after the World Cup break.
Gibbs-White took a kick in the first half of Forest’s friendly victory over Valencia and was immediately substituted, while Aurier felt a twinge in his calf against Olympiacos. Goalkeeper Hennessey was on the bench in Spain, having returned from representing Wales in Qatar. Assuming he is fit, he will start between the posts on December 27, as first-choice Dean Henderson is ineligible to play against his parent club.
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“They were unavailable through injury. But we are hopeful that they will all be available for United,” Cooper said of Gibbs-White, Aurier and Hennessey after the final whistle at Ewood Park.
“It’s been a mixture of kicks and loading through this period, and a lot of travelling and training on different surfaces. There’s a bit of management going on as well, but there’s nothing that we are too concerned about. Just for this one, at this moment in time, they weren’t available.”
The Reds are already without Cheikhou Kouyate and Moussa Niakhate due to hamstring problems. Omar Richards has been sidelined since the summer with a hairline fracture of the leg, while Giulian Biancone is out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury.
Cooper's side toppled Rovers courtesy of a brace from Brennan Johnson and goals from Jesse Lingard and Taiwo Awoniyi. They are through to the last-eight of the competition for the first time since 1994.
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