Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper has stated that it is a big game for club record signing Morgan Gibbs-White ahead of Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup Quarter-Final clash against his former side Wolves.
“Yeah, it’s a big game for Morgan, and Willy (Boly) as well. It’s fairly normal now that a player can come up against a previous club. If they play, then maybe it will mean something to them but what should mean the most to them is doing well for us and I’m pretty sure they will,” stated the Welshman.
The England Under 21 international signed for Forest from Wolves in the summer for an eye watering fee of £25 million with add ons potentially rising to £42.5 million.
The attacking midfielder has enjoyed a fairly decent start to his time at Forest with two goals and two assists making him the joint highest goal contributor at the club, but his manager knows there is more to come from him.
“That’s the exciting bit for me, I think he’s performing at a really good level now but if you see the work we are doing with him it’s all about getting a lot more out of him,” said Cooper.
“We have challenged him with assists and goals because that’s what he can really bring to the equation,” he added.
Gibbs-White’s former club have got off to a decent start since the World Cup under their new manager Julen Lopetegui with just one loss from five matches in all competitions.
Forest however have been on a mixed run of form with a big win away to Southampton and an impressive draw against Chelsea but also a loss to Manchester United and a hugely embarrassing defeat to Blackpool with albeit a very heavily rotated side for the Reds.
“With the injury list I couldn’t run the risk of picking up more injuries, but the team we put out was more than capable of winning that match. The moments were the unacceptable bits. It wasn’t just about the shots it was the clear cut chances that we missed,” said Cooper regarding the loss to Blackpool.
Lopetegui’s side have had a relatively simple run to the Quarter Final with wins against Preston, Leeds and Gillingham.
The Reds have had a slightly more difficult but still fairly easy run to this stage with wins against Grimsby, Spurs and Blackburn.
These two sides have met once before this season in a 1-0 victory for Wolves at Molineux. Forest were very poor that day which was encapsulated with a penalty miss from Brennan Johnson.
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Steve Cooper remained tight lipped when asked about any injuries ahead of Wednesday night.
“We’ve got a few doubts. Not going to go into individuals but there’s quite a few doubts going into this week, too soon to give any definitive information,” stated the Forest manager.
The four confirmed players that will miss the match are Moussa Niakhate, Jesse Lingard, Cheikhou Kouyate and Giulian Biancone who continue to be sidelined with longer term injuries.
One of the doubts that the Welshman remained silent on is leading goalscorer Awoniyi who came off injured after scoring against Southampton last week. With the lack of other quality options up front Cooper may be forced to take a risk on starting the Nigerian.
The confirmed absentees for Wolves are Chiquinho, Pedro Neto and Sasa Kalajdzic who are out with longer term injuries.
The two major doubts for Lopetegui are Boubacar Traore and Daniel Podence who missed out on the Liverpool game on Saturday with minor injuries.
Predicted Forest XI
Henderson, Aurier, Worrall, Boly, Lodi, Freuler, Yates, Mangala, Gibbs-White, Johnson, Awoniyi
Predicted Wolves XI
Sa, Semedo, Collins, Kilman, Bueno, Neves, Nunes, Moutinho, Traore, Guedes, Cunha
