- Newcastle United to take on depleted Nottingham Forest side
- Vitor Pereira frustrated by fixture schedule
- Eddie Howe’s side travel to City Ground on Sunday
Nottingham Forest will host Newcastle United on Sunday blighted by injuries following a week of football that has taken a heavy toll on the Midlands outfit.
Eddie Howe has his own fitness problems to manage on Tyneside. The club confirmed a season-ending injury to Lewis Hall this week with Tino Livramento also unlikely to feature again this term due to a thigh problem.
The Magpies have been boosted by the return of Bruno Guimaraes in recent weeks. The Brazil international has put in industrious performances in the centre of the park and was pivotal in helping Howe’s side to victory over Brighton.
Nottingham Forest host Newcastle United after busy week
Newcastle will look to build on that against Nottingham Forest and face an opponent struggling to field a full, fit matchday squad.
Forest beat Chelsea 3-1 on Monday night in Premier League action but were then on the receiving end of a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa in the Europa League semi-final on Thursday night.
Vitor Pereira had Morgan Gibbs-White and Ibrahim Sangare on the bench for that match but did not call on either of them, while Murillo was only afforded a cameo and Ola Aina was not in the squad at all.
Speaking after the match and ahead of facing Newcastle, Pereira said: “If you look at our bench today, we brought three players in condition to play – Lorenzo Lucca, Dilane Bakwa and Ryan Yates.
“We had three injured players not in condition to go on the pitch and help the team, three boys from the academy and Murillo. Murillo was a risk to play; he was not yet ready to play.
Vitor Pereira: Nottingham Forest injuries ‘too much’
“In the end, I am proud of my team and my players, proud of our supporters. We came without conditions to compete for the final, difficult conditions for us, and one less day to recover which makes a difference.
“We tried everything but we didn’t have the solutions. When we tried to risk something with the solutions we had on the bench, they scored two more goals. A sad day, difficult, but we need to look for the future.
“Aina out. Dan Ndoye out. Sangare out. Callum out. Murillo out. Morgan out. It is too much. I don’t know if some of them can recover for the next match.”
In other news, ‘No Point’: Eddie Howe cagey over Anthony Gordon as Newcastle United and Bayern Munich open talks.
