March will be a big month for Nottingham Forest in their fight to secure a top-six Championship finish.
First up is a trip to face promotion rivals Sheffield United on Friday night, in a six-pointer at the top end of the table.
Steve Cooper’s side are currently in ninth spot, three points behind sixth-placed Luton Town, with the Blades two places and two points ahead of them.
The Reds head coach will be forced into at least one change at Bramall Lane, however, on the back of the weekend’s 2-0 triumph over Bristol City.
Left wing-back Max Lowe has been a key figure for Forest this term but is ineligible to feature against his parent club.
Jack Colback is the most likely choice to fill in, with Cooper having deployed the midfielder in that position when Lowe was injured earlier in the campaign.
He does also have January signing Richie Laryea on the books, but the Canada international is yet to make his debut in the Garibaldi.
Changing Colback’s role would also allow Ryan Yates to come back into the starting XI, after the academy graduate had dropped to the bench against the Robins.
Having three midfielders - in Colback, Yates and James Garner - who are all having good seasons, regularly gives boss Cooper a selection headache.
Lowe’s absence at least helps to solve that on this occasion, while still being able to include Philip Zinckernagel and Brennan Johnson in attack.
Cooper does also have the option of switching to a four-man defence, rather than using Colback as a wing-back. That would mean leaving one of Joe Worrall, Steve Cook and Scott McKenna out, however - a trio who have given the Reds a very solid foundation on which to build.
This week’s clash will be the final game of Brice Samba’s three-match suspension, with goalkeeper Ethan Horvath looking to make it a trio of clean-sheets as he aims to take his chance to impress.
Predicted Forest XI: Horvath; Worrall, Cook, McKenna; Spence, Yates, Garner, Colback; Johnson, Davis, Zinckernagel.
