Ola Aina will not be fit to face Aston Villa this weekend — but the Nottingham Forest full-back has a chance of returning for the visit of Everton on April 12.
Nuno Espirito Santo confirmed that the calf injury suffered by the Nigeria international against Manchester United will rule him out at Villa Park.
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But while the 28-year-old’s record of having started every Premier League game this seaosn will come to an end, Forest head coach Nuno is hopeful that Aina will not be sidelined for long.
“It is always difficult when it is a calf injury, we have to give him time. We do not have an exact time schedule, it is all about his ability to recover,” said Nuno in his pre-match press conference.
“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).
“He has had the scan and he is going to be out for a while. 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.”
Forest’s defensive issues are further complicated by the fact that Alex Moreno, on loan from Villa, is ineligible to play against his parent club, while another potential option, Eric Moreira, is just returning from an injury problem.
“He (Moreno) is not available to play Villa. We will have to find other solutions. He did well when he came on (against United). But he cannot play against Villa,” said Nuno.
“He (Moreira) got injured with the Germany Under-19 national team. He has been out for two or three weeks now. He is getting back in the group now with individual sessions. For this game, it is also going to be very tight for him.
“With Ola out, we are going to try to find solutions to the problems we have. The absence of Ola is a big one and we are going to miss him but we have to find solutions.
“Our training sessions are very light, in terms of load. We will look tomorrow and try to find a solution.”
Forest remain hopeful that Chris Wood will overcome the hip problem he suffered on international duty with New Zealand, which ruled him out of the last two games.
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“We are assessing. It is going to be day by day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better and he continues to improve,” said Nuno, who will be boosted by the return of winger Callum Hudson-Odoi after he missed the 1-0 win over United because of a personal matter.
“He (Hudson-Odoi) is going to be available for this game. It is a big boost. We missed him in the previous game. He has been huge for us.”
(Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
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