‘Not far away’: Steve Cooper predicts that a 23-year-old could play for Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

Nuno Tavares, who is on loan, has received an update on his injuries from Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper.

The 23-year-old, who is out on loan from Arsenal for the entire season, hobbled out during last weekend’s 2-0 loss at Manchester City.

With a suspected groin injury, Tavares was substituted and replaced by Gonzalo Montiel; however, at his pre-game press conference, manager Cooper acknowledged the injury wasn’t as serious as initially believed.

The defender is close to playing, according to Cooper, who did not rule out a return against Brentford tomorrow afternoon.

Steve Cooper on Nuno Tavares’ fitness

Speaking at his press conference yesterday, boss Cooper provided a key update on the Portuguese defender’s fitness.
“Nuno [Tavares] came off during the Manchester City game, but fortunately it’s not what we thought it might have been.

“It’s not a serious injury so that’s good news.

“Hopefully, he’s not far away – apart from that we’re okay on the injury front.”

A potential switch to a back four?
During Forest’s last home outing against Burnley, Cooper switched to a back four to be more attacking and direct, causing more problems for the opposition.

With Nuno potentially not 100% but fit enough to make the squad, we could see Ola Aina return to left-back, with Serge Aurier at right-back and two centre-backs instead of the three we saw at the Etihad last weekend.