Nottingham Forest
Report: Nottingham now sweating over £17m star as two players ruled out
Aston Villa host Nottingham Forest on Saturday, looking to make it back-to-back Premier League wins.
An Ollie Watkins double saw Unai Emery’s side beat Fulham 2-1 and bounce back from their loss to Manchester United.
Tottenham’s defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers saw Aston Villa move back into the top four.
The visit of Forest represents an excellent opportunity to strengthen their grip on fourth spot with Tottenham not in action this weekend.
Before their most recent win over an out-of-form West Ham United, Nuno Espírito Santo’s side endured a poor run of form.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s fixture, the visitors have several injury concerns.
Nottingham Forest injury concern ahead of Aston Villa clash
Striker Taiwo Awoniyi is Nuno’s first concern. The £17m signing scored against the Hammers but was forced off in the second half.
Per Nottinghamshire Live, the Forest boss has been treading carefully with the 26-year-old after he underwent groin surgery.
Nuno said about the striker: “We have to assess him now. Let’s see how he is. We all know he is struggling because he was a long time without competition. We push him – more minutes than he should have done. He is working hard. Let’s hope it is nothing serious,” he told Nottinghamshire Live.
Forest are also set to be without Argentinian Gonzalo Montiel, who is out with a hamstring injury. Chris Wood is the second absentee, with the striker set to be sidelined for up to two months with a hamstring injury he picked up in the 2-1 loss to Arsenal.
“He is out. He is going to be out for some time. Hopefully not a long time, but let’s see,” said the Forest boss.
“It is a hamstring. He felt uncomfortable, so we did a scan, and there is a minor injury there.”
Considering Forest’s league position and Villa’s home form, anything less than a win will be highly disappointing.
With Tottenham not in action, Villa have a chance to put some distance between themselves and Ange Postecoglou’s team.
The home side have their well-documented injury issues. However, they still have plenty of quality within their ranks and certainly enough to hurt Forest.
