Nottingham Forest will host Liverpool at The City Ground in the early kick-off on Saturday afternoon, and Steve Cooper has delivered a big injury blow ahead of the clash.
What’s the latest?
The Forest boss took to his pre-match press conference to reveal that Harry Toffolo has suffered a serious hamstring injury after he came off the pitch just 17 minutes into his appearance against Brighton and Hove Albion.
Cooper told the media, via Nottinghamshire Live:
“Harry is injured. He picked up a hamstring injury, unfortunately, which will rule him out for a little while.”
It’s bad news for Cooper
The injury to Toffolo couldn’t have come at a worse time as Renan Lodi and Omar Richards are already sidelined, so it really is bad news for Cooper as he heads into the clash with the Merseyside giants this weekend.
Nottingham Forest are currently just one point from being rock bottom in the Premier League table but are just three points adrift from safety so at the very least a point at home against Liverpool will be crucial for the Tricky Trees.
Over eight league appearances, Toffolo has been a solid defensive presence in the Forest backline, making one tackle and 2.4 clearances per game, as well as winning the majority of his duels combined (54%).
Neco Williams was deployed at left-back and will likely reprise his role on the left flank this weekend, but his performance against Brighton was largely uninspiring.
The Wales international, who will come up against his former Liverpool teammates on Saturday, was dribbled past twice, lost the majority of his duels (6/11), failed to complete any of his crosses (0/2) and only completed 19 accurate passes throughout.
Williams has only made three appearances as a left-back at club level but has been featuring on the left side regularly for his national team in a more advanced midfield role so the young full-back should have enough experience to hold the position in his teammates absence.
With that being said, Cooper will be hoping that despite the short time his team have to prepare for their visit from the Merseysiders, that they will still be able to take something from the game, even with their mounting injury problems.
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