Nottingham Forest man is ‘struggling’ after injury ‘flared up’, a doubt to face Stoke

Martin O’Neill has revealed that Lewis Grabban is “struggling” with an achilles injured that “flared up” last week. He’s a doubt to face Stoke City on Saturday as the Nottingham Forest manager needs to speak with his medical team before deciding what the best course of action is to take.

This season, Grabban has scored and created 19 goals in 33 games in all competitions since joining the Reds from Bournemouth last summer. The 31-year-old had missed only two league games before his exclusion against Derby, but his return date is unknown.

O’Neill said to Nottinghamshire Live: “We have known about it for a few days. He has an Achilles problem that has flared up again. Considering he is our leading scorer that is a difficult one. But we knew he was struggling a number of days ago, so we were able to prepare for that.

“I don’t know exactly what the situation is, I will talk to the medical staff and we will see where we are at the end of this week.” With Grabban being unlikely to get through much training this week, it’s hard to see him starting against Stoke. Daryl Murphy should keep his place in attack.

Leo Bonatini scored in a reserve game for Forest and came off the bench in their 1-0 win over Derby, so he’ll likely be in the squad as an impact substitute. Grabban was Forest’s go-to man for goals this season, but the 31-year-old has only scored once in 2019.

O’Neill would be wise not to rush Grabban back as Forest will need him fit and available for the run-in.

Crippy Cooke’s previous article