Nottingham Forest hope their list of absentees will soon shorten as players continue to make progress in their recovery from injury.
The Reds’ numbers have been reduced in recent weeks as several members of the first-team have been on the treatment table.
Slowly but surely, though, boss Steve Cooper says some of them are getting closer to being back in contention for a place in the matchday squad.
Defender Loic Mbe Soh took another significant step towards his return, when he played the full 90 minutes as the Under-23s beat QPR 3-2 in the Premier League Cup in midweek.
The youngster had suffered a thigh problem in training just before Cooper’s first match in charge, in September, with a setback then keeping him out of action for longer.
Max Lowe (groin strain), Joe Lolley and Alex Mighten (knee) remain sidelined, while centre-back Joe Worrall picked up a knock in last weekend’s 1-0 win at Millwall.
“Max is close to returning to training,” Cooper said, ahead of Saturday’s crunch clash with Derby County.
“Loic played 90 minutes for the 23s on Wednesday night, which was a good step for him. He needed to get 90 minutes under his belt, because he’s been out for a little while.
“Joe Lolley is still on the road to recovery, and Alex as well.
“Joe Worrall did pick up a bit of a knock in the Millwall game, but he should be fine.”
Forest go into the City Ground match against their arch-rivals sitting just five points below the play-off spots.
Lewis Grabban’s last-minute winner at The Den made it successive victories for the Reds, on the back of the team’s triumph over Arsenal in the FA Cup.
Prior to that, however, they had been beaten in their last two Championship games, losing to Middlesbrough and Huddersfield Town.
The crisis-hit Rams are second-bottom, having had a 21-point deduction this term, but are unbeaten in their last five league matches.
