Nottingham Forest will be sweating on the fitness of Danilo as they look ahead to the final four games of their survival fight.
The midfielder was forced off with what looked to be a hamstring problem late on in the Reds’ 2-1 defeat at Brentford. And with the visitors unable to make any more substitutions, they had to play the final minutes with 10 men.
Ivan Toney had already cancelled out Danilo’s opener by that point, and Josh Dasilva went on to capitalise on the Bees’ numerical advantage by scoring a contentious winner. Head coach Steve Cooper felt fatigue played a part for his players, following a “taxing” three-game week, and that was also a factor in the changes he made during the game.
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Brennan Johnson came off just past the hour mark after picking up a knock and was replaced by Cheikhou Kouyate. Having recently recovered from injury, Taiwo Awoniyi came off for Andre Ayew in the 54th minute, while Ryan Yates made his comeback from a shoulder problem as he took the place of Orel Mangala late on.
"There's so much you look into now with players, with it being a three-game week and possible fatigue. You look at the numbers for distances covered and things like that,” Cooper said.
"Danilo is a fantastic athlete, very fit and resilient. He was the one guy we weren't worried about keeping the effort levels for the whole game, so to see him go down and come off was just something we didn't expect.
"There were other guys that we knew were fighting to keep up physically. There's no shame in that, that's how it is - Brentford made a load of changes as well.
"It's not the first time that has happened to us (seeing out a game with 10 men due to an injury). Brennan had a knock as well. He was another one who had given a lot the other day.
"We knew some changes were coming in the game, in terms of substitutions, because of fatigue. It was a real call before the game about whether to go with some of the same players.
"Taiwo, for example, has been out for a long time and not been back that long. To go three games in a week was a big call. As much effort as he gives - and he's never lacking - sometimes he was struggling to be at his best.
"We knew those sorts of decisions were coming, and we had to make them on what we thought would be right for the game. We knew more set-pieces were coming, so we wanted the right players in the box to defend them and the aerial threat.
"You are hoping to be able to see it out. To concede the goals that we ended up doing, with some of the decision-making around them, is tough to take.”
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