Martin O’Neill has revealed that Lewis Grabban will miss Nottingham Forest’s meeting with Hull City on Saturday afternoon as he’s recently had another injection to fix an achilles injury. The 31-year-old has missed Forest’s last two Championship outings, but his manager believes good progress is being made with his recovery.
O’Neill said to the club’s official website: “I think (the Hull clash) will be too early but he is making good progress. He is responding well and has had another injection and is doing well. I am not a medic but I have asked them and it is a difficult one to gauge at the minute but he himself has said that it is getting better by the day.”
Grabban’s last game for Forest was against Preston North End on February 16. He’s been absent for three weeks, missing the Reds’ 1-0 victory over Derby County and last weekend’s 2-0 defeat to Stoke City. In Grabban’s absence, Daryl Murphy and Leo Bonatini have been handed minutes in attack and have fared well, but it’s hard to replace a player with 15 league goals to his name.
The former Bournemouth striker had enjoyed a bright start to life at the City Ground until his form dipped at the turn of the year – one league goal since December 2018. His achilles problem may have been to blame, so it’s imperative that he’s 100% before he makes his return.
Forest are currently ninth in the Championship table with 50 points from 35 games, coming off the back of two wins and two draws from their last five.
