Nottingham Forest will check on the fitness of front-man Taiwo Awoniyi ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup tie with Blackpool.
The striker scored the goal which clinched the Reds’ first away win of the Premier League season on Wednesday night, seeing off Southampton 1-0 at St Mary’s. But he was forced off with 20 minutes to go, having seemingly picked up a knock.
Forest already have Moussa Niakhate, Omar Richards, Giulian Biancone and Cheikhou Kouyate as long-term absentees, while Jesse Lingard is facing a month on the sidelines. Head coach Steve Cooper hopes Awoniyi was just suffering from fatigue on the south coast, but will see how he is before the weekend’s trip to Bloomfield Road.
READ MORE: How the Reds rated against Southampton
READ MORE: Forest face six big transfer decisions in January window
“It’s still early. We’re still assessing. The players are in a bit later today,” Cooper said.
“A couple of the lads walked off yesterday with some fatigue. We’ll have to look at Taiwo, for example, and see how he is. It’s too soon, really, to see if there is anything worse than fatigue.
“There was a couple of days between Chelsea (on Sunday) and last night, and we had to travel. We picked the same starting team but we made a lot of changes during the game, which was good and beneficial to how the team played.
“The lads who came on were excellent. That ended up being as important as the guys who started. That’s where we want to be.
“The dressing room is really together at the moment, and so it should be. That’s what we need. To see the guys sticking together, on and off the pitch, yesterday was really good.
“But in terms of player availability for the cup, I’m not too sure yet. Hopefully everyone is available. If so, then we’ll try to get the right plan to go to Blackpool with.”
How should Forest line up at Blackpool? Have your say in the comments below
READ NEXT
