Nottingham Forest will be without Nikola Milenkovic for Saturday’s Premier League game against Coventry City, and Jair Cunha remains a late doubt after hamstring tightness. The match kicks off at 5.30 pm at the City Ground, where Forest are trying to build on their 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
Milenkovic’s hamstring injury has already taken him out of the contest, while Nicolo Savona is also unavailable because of a knee problem. That leaves Forest short of central defensive options at exactly the wrong moment, even though they have just come through a first league victory of the campaign. For readers checking the team news now, this is the clearest reason Nottingham Forest is being searched: the back line is changing before a home fixture that should have offered some stability.
If Cunha does not recover, Forest’s shape is already easy to read. Ola Aina, Ousmane Diomande and Murillo are expected to form the back three, with Matz Sels in goal and Neco Williams and Daniel Muñoz providing width. Xaver Schlager and James McAtee could take the central midfield roles, Morgan Gibbs-White remains the main creative outlet, and Igor Jesus, who made an impact from the bench against Aston Villa, could start alongside Liam Delap.
The issue is that Cunha is the only one of Forest’s three centre-back concerns with any real chance of featuring, and that chance is still not confirmed. He sat out the Aston Villa win with hamstring tightness and has been assessed this week, which leaves one final selection call hanging over a side that cannot really afford another defensive shuffle. The shape of Forest’s team is therefore less about a predicted XI than about whether one injured defender can get through late checks.
Coventry City arrive with their own problems. Frank Lampard will be without Haji Wright because of a thigh injury, while Kaine Kesler-Hayden, Josh Eccles and Luke Woolfenden also remain unavailable. Aurele Amenda, who went off after 12 minutes in Wednesday’s defeat to Aston Villa with a calf problem, was expected to miss the trip to Nottingham after needing a scan. Frank Onyeka is also listed as a doubt with a hip issue, even though Lampard has said Eccles, Woolfenden and Kesler-Hayden are targeting a return.
That uncertainty shapes Coventry’s side just as much as Forest’s. Carl Rushworth should start in goal, with Stephen Mfuni, Bobby Thomas and Ethan Pinnock in a back three, Milan van Ewijk and Jay Dasilva as wing-backs, and Matt Grimes alongside Onyeka in midfield if he is fit enough to play. Rudoni and Hamer are expected to support Ellis Simms up front. Coventry lost 5-0 to Brighton and still have not scored in the Premier League, so the margin for another reshuffle is thin.
Forest, by contrast, enter the game after a win that should have settled nerves, but the injuries mean that little is settled at all. The match at the City Ground is being shaped less by form than by availability, and the final answer may come only when the teamsheets are released. If Cunha is cleared, Forest keep one of their few remaining defensive options intact; if he is not, the home side will have to lean on a back three that has barely had time to breathe.
