As Nottingham Forest go in pursuit of confirming their Champions League qualification, they’ll have to do so without Chris Wood and now one other key man following Nuno Espirito Santo‘s latest injury update.
When Chris Wood will return from injury
After returning from international duty with New Zealand carrying a hip injury, Wood was forced to miss Forest’s victory against Manchester United and could yet be forced to sit out of his side’s trip to Midlands rivals Aston Villa this weekend.
Related
Sat as many as six points clear of fifth place Manchester City, those at the City Ground have enough breathing room to ease their star striker back into Espirito Santo’s side, but will be well aware of the quality that they’ll lack without his goalscoring exploits.
The Forest boss decided to remain coy over whether we can expect Wood’s return to come as soon as this weekend against Villa, telling reporters in his pre-match press conference: “We are assessing. It is going to be day by day. Hopefully tomorrow better and he continues to improve.”
| Premier League Golden Boot race | Goals |
|---|---|
| Mohamed Salah | 27 |
| Erling Haaland | 21 |
| Alexander Isak | 20 |
| Chris Wood | 18 |
| Bryan Mbuemo | 16 |
In midweek, it was Anthony Elanga who stepped up to score in place of Wood as he ran the length of the pitch before firing home in emphatic fashion against former club Manchester United.
Against a more formidable Aston Villa side, however, replacing the forward’s quality is likely to prove to be a far tougher task and whether Taiwo Awoniyi can rediscover his best form at the perfect time remains to be seen.
The same can be said for whether Nuno decides to risk Wood, especially following the news that he’ll also be without another key man for this weekend and beyond.
Ola Aina in fitness race to play another game for Forest
Joining Wood on the sidelines, Nottingham Forest are now set to be without Ola Aina against Aston Villa this weekend and potentially the rest of the season. The right-back suffered a calf injury against Manchester United last time out, which has since required a scan to potentially rule him out of the business end of the campaign.
Despite concerns that he could miss the rest of the season, Nuno decided to remain positive over Aina’s calf injury – telling reporters: “He has had the scan and he is going to be out for a while. It is a calf problem. He is not going to be available. It is a big blow. We will miss his quality, his talent and the routines we already have with his teammates. We are going to miss him.
“Some players take more time, others less. We will assess him. He will definitely be out for Villa and for Everton he will be a doubt. Beyond that we will assess him. I am positive that we will see him again (before the end of the season).”
Of course, the Nigerian should be desperate to return given that his current £40k-a-week contract is set to expire this summer. Should he fail to recover in time to feature again this season, victory over Manchester United will have been Aina’s final Nottingham Forest game as things stand.
