Head coach Steve Cooper hopes to have some more of Nottingham Forest’s walking wounded available again soon after Ryan Yates made his comeback against Everton.
The midfielder had been absent for more than a month due to illness, but came off the bench to tee up Brennan Johnson’s second goal of the afternoon to clinch a 2-2 draw at the City Ground.
Meanwhile, Serge Aurier was in the XI after recovering from a calf strain, while Renan Lodi got the green light having been a doubt with a groin problem.
The Reds still have eight players sidelined, but as the season run-in approaches Cooper says at least some of them are not too far off returning to action.
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"It's really big that he's back, and we’ve got other lads coming back as well,” he said of Yates. “We've got loads of lads not available to play, but we don't talk about that because it's not our way. We commit to the lads who are available; Yatesy now is.
"I probably played him a little bit longer than I should have, so I apologise to the medics for that. But he epitomises who we are and who we want to be, so it was great to have him back.
"Moussa (Niakhate) isn't far away. He's not quite ready yet. He needs another good week's training before maybe thinking about that (putting him on the bench).
"It will be great when some players come back, because we've got a lot of good players who are not available. But we don't talk about that; it will just be great when they are back with us.
"Cheikhou (Kouyate) is not far away. Taiwo (Awoniyi) is not far away. Moussa is not far away. They are three really big players for us. We'll just focus on the next game, see who's available and commit to the plan.”
In addition to Kouyate, Awoniyi and Niakhate, Forest remain without Scott McKenna, Willy Boly, Dean Henderson, Omar Richards and Giulian Biancone. Richards and Biancone were left out of the 25-man Premier League squad for the second half of the campaign as they are long-term absentees.
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