Nottingham Forest host Aston Villa at the City Ground in the Premier League on Monday night, and Steve Cooper’s luck has rapidly changed in the last 24 hours.
After signing a new contract at the club, there was some injury news revealed which could give his team a boost against Steven Gerrard’s side.
What’s the latest?
The Aston Villa manager took to his pre-match press conference to confirm that Leon Bailey is a doubt for the clash against Forest on Monday.
Gerrard told the media (via Nottinghamshire Live): “Leon Bailey is a doubt, he’s got a small muscle injury that we’re assessing around the back of his knee.”
It’s good news for Cooper
The potential absence of Bailey is good news for Cooper, who at this moment in time will take any boost that he can get if it means that Forest have a better chance of picking up a result against Villa.
The Garibaldi have lost their last five Premier League games, conceding a whopping 18 goals in the process, so the lack of one of Villa’s most trusted forwards this season will be a huge relief to the Forest boss and the defence that the Jamaican attacker would have been facing.
Bailey has featured in each of Villa’s league games so far this term, scoring one goal, delivering one assist and creating two big chances, along with taking 1.1 shots and completing 1.3 dribbles per game over his eight league appearances.
Forest will come up against a Villa side who are undefeated in their last three matches, but Cooper’s team will need to find a way to end their unbeaten run if they have any hope of climbing out of the relegation zone and off the bottom of the table.
However, the Tricky Trees have a lot to celebrate, with the manager signing a new contract until 2025 amid reports earlier in the week that he could be sacked imminently. As a result, it may give the players a new injection of confidence and ambition to prove to the manager that they deserve to be in the team.
There is plenty of time for Forest to turn their season around, with 30 league left to prove that they deserve to remain in the top flight, and making that fresh start against a depleted Aston Villa would be the cherry on top of a fantastic weekend for Cooper.