Nottingham Forest have been left sweating on the fitness of Jesse Lingard following their Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Manchester United.
The summer signing had been due to make his first start since recovering from a hamstring injury in the semi-final second leg at Old Trafford. He had come off the bench in last week’s reverse tie at the City Ground and was named in the first XI on his former stomping ground.
However, Lingard suffered an Achilles injury during the warm-up and was replaced in the team by Emmanuel Dennis. Head coach Steve Cooper already has a significant injury list to deal with, and is hoping he will not have to contend with another absentee.
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“I don’t know completely, but he felt his Achilles in the warm-up. It was a risk that he and we couldn’t really take,” Cooper said.
“It happens sometimes, having to make a change in the warm-up. At least it was in the warm-up and not the first 10 minutes.
“Dennis came in and looked a real threat at times. We’re happy with his performance today. Brennan was his normal threat over the other side as well, so it didn’t disrupt us too much. We adapted quite well. In terms of Jesse, we’ll have to see over the next day or two.”
The Reds had gone into the clash 3-0 down from the first leg. They gave a good account of themselves at Old Trafford, however, doing well up until the point when the hosts made the breakthrough.
Anthony Martial opened the scoring in the 73rd minute. And Fred wrapped up a 2-0 victory for United on the night a few minutes later as Forest’s cup run came to an end.
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