Nottingham Forest hit by huge injury blow ahead of Ange Postecoglou's first game
by Sarah Clapson · NottinghamshireLiveNottingham Forest have been hit by a big injury blow ahead of Ange Postecoglou’s first game in charge.
The new Reds head coach will take his team to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday (12.30pm kick-off) to take on Arsenal. It is straight in at the deep end for Postecoglou, having been announced as Nuno Espirito Santo’s replacement on Tuesday.
Such a quick turnaround means Postecoglou will have had limited time with his squad before the clash with the Gunners. He now faces being without a key player for a significant period of time.
According to The Telegraph, full-back Ola Aina is likely to be out of action for at least three months due to a hamstring problem. The Nigerian sustained the injury earlier this week while on international duty.
Aina was substituted after just 10 minutes of Nigeria’s World Cup qualifier with South Africa on Tuesday. Speaking in his first press conference since taking up the City Ground job, Postecoglou said on Thursday the 28-year-old was due to be assessed by the club following his return Trentside.
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It is said scans have now revealed Aina will be absent until early December ‘as a best-case scenario’. The setback has apparently led to a reshuffle in Forest’s 25-man Premier League squad, which was submitted on Thursday.
Aina is said to have been left off the Reds’ list, with striker Taiwo Awoniyi included instead. The latter did not make the cut for the club’s Europa League squad, which was confirmed last week.
Postecoglou now has a big decision to make when it comes to naming his starting line-up to face Arsenal. Left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko is ineligible to feature against his parent club, further limiting Forest’s full-back options.
Summer signing Nicolo Savona could come in for his debut. Both the former Juventus man and Neco Williams are capable of operating on either the left or right side of the defence.
Speaking about Aina in his press conference, Postecoglou said: “I think we’ve got a clean bill of health, apart from Aina. We will get some information on him this afternoon after some scans.”