Nottingham Forest handed positive injury sign ahead of key Europa League clash

Latest Nottingham Forest news as Ange Postecoglou's Reds prepare for Europa League clash at the City Ground

Nottingham Forest appear to have been handed an injury boost ahead of their Europa League clash with FC Midtjylland.

European football returns to the City Ground for the first time in almost 30 years on Thursday night (8pm kick-off). Head coach Ange Postecoglou goes into the match against the Danish outfit still searching for his first win with the Reds.

His first home game at the helm ended in a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland on Saturday. The weekend’s result made it three losses and two draws for Forest since the former Tottenham Hotspur boss was appointed.

He has been without centre-back Murillo since his first game in charge. The Brazilian was forced off with a thigh problem during the Reds’ 3-0 defeat away to Arsenal last month.

However, Murillo joined in training with his teammates at the Nigel Doughty Academy on Wednesday morning. Last week, Postecoglou had said the centre-back was doing individual training.

Midfielder Douglas Luiz and full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko, however, were not involved in the training session. The reason for Zinchenko’s absence is not yet known, but the former was substituted at half-time of last week’s 2-2 draw away to Real Betis with a hamstring issue.

In his pre-match press conference before the clash with the Black Cats, Postecoglou had said: “Douglas Luiz wasn’t great (on Thursday) so we have sent him for a scan on his hamstring. He won’t be available this weekend.

“With him, I think we have got to be really careful with how we use him in the early part of the year. He had a lot of issues last year at Juventus and came in late here.

“We’ll just be cautious with him. We’ll see what the scan says but he definitely won’t be available this week.

“It’s nothing serious, we know that; it’s nothing significant. But with the international window around the corner, there might be an opportunity for us to really build him up because he’s such a good player and we saw that the other night.

“It doesn’t feel he’s at peak physical fitness. The international break might be a good little window for us to build him up to where we need him to be.”

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