Nottingham Forest are sweating on the fitness of Jesse Lingard ahead of their New Year’s Day clash with Chelsea.
The summer signing was forced off in the second half of Tuesday night’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester United, having been wearing heavy strapping on his right thigh. Head coach Steve Cooper said afterwards he was hopeful it was “fatigue in his hamstring”, but the Reds are still waiting for a proper diagnosis.
Any doubt over Lingard would leave Cooper short of attacking options, given Morgan Gibbs-White is expected to be out “for a little while” with a calf problem. Forest are already without long-term absentees Omar Richards (hairline fracture of the leg), Giulian Biancone (ACL), Moussa Niakhate and Cheikhou Kouyate (both hamstring).
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“We’re working with him hard and we’re trying to push him without risk of further damage, because that wouldn’t be good at all,” Cooper said of Gibbs-White, ahead of facing the Blues. “It’s a little bit ongoing, in terms of getting him back.
“We’ve got a game in a few days, but we’ve also got a busy period after that. We have to bear all of those things in mind.
“Jesse walked off the other night and we’re still waiting for that to settle down, in terms of the exact damage, if any at all. We’ll give everybody - those two boys, plus some other kicks and knocks from the game - the best chance we can to get them available for Chelsea.
“It’s something you don’t want, an injury list. Unfortunately Cheikhou is going to be out for quite a little while with the injury he picked up at the World Cup, and those two guys maybe, and some of the longer-term ones are maybe taking a little bit longer than what we would have liked to get back - Niakhate and Omar Richards, and Giulian Biancone has picked up a long-term injury as well.
“We have picked up some injuries, there’s no doubt about that. That happens and you have to deal with it. As always, my focus will be on the boys available for the next games.”
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