Latest Nottingham Forest news as Sean Dyche’s Reds prepare to face Utrecht in Europa League clash
Nottingham Forest appear to have been handed a positive injury boost ahead of their trip to the Netherlands.
The Reds are in Europa League action against Utrecht on Thursday night (5.45pm kick-off). Sean Dyche’s side will be aiming to get back to winning ways after losing 3-0 away to Everton in the Premier League at the weekend.
A significant absentee list has hampered Forest in recent weeks. Dyche’s selection options have been limited, making it difficult to rotate his squad as the Reds try to compete on two fronts.
However, it appears some of Forest’s walking wounded are making progress in their recoveries. According to the BBC, midfielder Douglas Luiz and full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko were back on the grass as Dyche’s side trained earlier today (Wednesday) prior to travelling to Utrecht.
Footage posted by the club online showed that centre-back Murillo and winger Dilane Bakwa also joined in with their teammates ahead of the game. Midfielder Ryan Yates, though, was said to be absent.
Yates sustained a suspected hamstring problem against the Toffees on Saturday. He was substituted barely 15 minutes after being brought off the bench at half-time on Merseyside.
Murillo has missed the past three games with a hamstring issue and then a virus. Luiz (hamstring) has not featured since November 1 while Zinchenko’s last game was back in October.
Bakwa made his comeback from a hamstring injury last week when he played an hour for the B Team. It was his first run-out since October 5.
Dyche will provide an injury update when he faces the media this evening for his pre-match press conference at the Stadion Galgenwaard. With a big league game against Tottenham Hotspur to come on Sunday, he will no doubt be hoping to be able to make a few changes to his starting XI in the Netherlands.
Strikers Chris Wood (knee) and Taiwo Awoniyi (unknown) remain sidelined, along with goalkeeper Angus Gunn (knee). Long-term absentee Ola Aina is said to be recovering well from a hamstring injury but cannot feature until January, at the earliest, after being left out of the Reds’ Europa League and Premier League squads for the first half of the season.