Nottingham Forest host Fulham at The City Ground tomorrow night and Steve Cooper will be pleased to hear that their opponents will be without one of their key players for the clash.
What's the latest?
Marco Silva took to his pre-match press conference to give an update on an ankle injury sustained by defender Antonee Robinson during their most recent game with Tottenham Hotspur.
When asked whether Robinson would be able to play in Friday night's game, Silva revealed (via West London Sport):
“It will be difficult, I have to be honest.
“We still have some hours until the game and we have to check him, like we are doing every single day, and we have to take the decision.”
It's good news for Forest
Forest desperately need to start picking up more points in the Premier League as they have now found themselves in the relegation zone following their defeat to Bournemouth in their last outing, leaving them 19th with just 4 points collected from their first six outings.
The news that Fulham's back-line will be weakened with the suspected absence of Robinson will surely leave Cooper with something to think about when it comes to deploying his best attacking threat that can take advantage of their weaknesses successfully.
The Welshman has a range of forwards he could deploy tomorrow night including Jesse Lingard, Brennan Johnson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Sam Surridge, Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis, so Cooper will need to carefully select the forwards he can rely on to not only create goal-scoring opportunities but convert them too.
Both sides are newly promoted to the top flight and will be desperate to retain their Premier League status, Fulham are having a much better start than their opponents as they are currently 10th in the league, however, the Tricky Trees beat the London-based side 1-0 in their last meeting in the Championship.
Forest have lost their last three Premier League games conceding 11 goals in total and after the horror show at The City Ground against Bournemouth, Cooper will be wanting to see his side offer the home supporters a positive reaction tomorrow evening before the league breaks for the international fixtures.