Nottingham Forest injury news vs Manchester United as Scott McKenna returns and others remain out

Last week against Aston Villa, Forest’s injury woes continued as Moussa Niakhate and Cheikhou Kouyate were forced off with hamstring problems. Both players had only just returned from lengthy layoffs and it looks like Forest will have to do without them against Manchester United.

At his pre-match press conference, Cooper was reluctant to give specific details on when players might be returning to action for The Reds.

“We picked up some injuries last week as everybody saw, player walking off. I don’t want to put definite times on how long they’ll be out for but it obviously wasn’t great last week so no players returning”, he told the media.

With Niakhate out of action, Cooper did mention the progress of Scott McKenna, who was an unused substitute against Villa. The Scot has been out since February after sustaining a hamstring injury against Fulham.

“Scott McKenna was back on the bench last week so he’s had another weeks training and I guess a little bit closer to starting games.”

If Cooper is to continue with three central defenders, McKenna may well feature against United tomorrow.

Forest still have a substantial list of players struggling with injury, including vice-captain Ryan Yates, Dean Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Gustavo Scarpa, Renan Lodi and Serge Aurier.

Wily Boly, Omar Richards, Giulian Biancone and Chris Wood remain out for the season.

Although this is a significant blow to Cooper’s plans, the Welshman’s focus is very much on the players available.

“It’s not an ideal situation but not one we are going to dwell on because obviously the most important thing at the moment is trying to improve results and we have to focus on the guys who can play in the games.”

Forest’s clash with United kick’s off at 16:30 at the City Ground.