Nottingham Forest take on Porto in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final at the City Ground on Thursday
Elliot Anderson in action for Nottingham Forest (Image: Getty)
Nottingham Forest head coach Vitor Pereira is unsure whether star man Elliot Anderson will be available for this week’s Europa League decider.
The Reds host Porto at the City Ground on Thursday (8pm kick-off) with a place in the semi-finals on the line. The last-eight tie is finely balanced at 1-1 after last week’s first leg in Porto and Pereira’s side will hope home advantage can carry them through.
There is a question mark over whether Anderson will feature against the Portuguese outfit, however. He was absent from Forest’s training session this morning (Wednesday) due to personal reasons.
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“Today, he was not able to train,” Pereira explained. “He has personal problems and we have to respect. We will see (about tomorrow), we need to wait.”
Regardless of Anderson’s availability, the Reds boss has some big decisions to make for the second leg encounter. His selection choices will be made with Sunday’s huge Premier League clash against Burnley in mind.
Finding a balance between pushing for European glory and scrapping for top flight survival continues to be the challenge for Pereira. He knows the opportunity to reach a semi-final on the continent does not come around often, but his team are also only three points above the relegation zone in the Premier League.
Either way, to progress Forest will need an improved performance from last week’s meeting with Porto. They rode their luck somewhat at the Estadio do Dragao as a bizarre own goal from Martim Fernandes cancelled out William Gomes’ opener.
“We will try to keep going,” Pereira said ahead of another reunion with his former club. “We will try our best to keep going, with responsibility.
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“Trying to find a way to compete in both games is the only way I know. Working, working, working and giving confidence to them (the players); giving confidence to take risks.
“It is trying to be consistent. To face the two challenges we need to be consistent.
“In this moment, I need to think about both games. It is important to balance the energy and to face Burnley in our best condition because it will be a tough game again.
“Tomorrow, when we are looking at the first XI and the subs, we have to look at the time for everyone on the pitch, and the potential of extra-time. If you go to extra-time, it is another challenge.
“But I am positive. We know the game will be very tough. I know them (Porto) very well. We need to play at a better level than we did in the first leg.”
He added: “It is about being resilient. It is about having belief, keeping confidence, believing in our work, in ourselves and in our qualities.”