When Brighton plays Nottingham Forest on Sunday, they will be hoping to give three injury returnees more chances after capitalizing on the Carabao Cup this midweek.
It remains to be seen if Forest will benefit from his recent absence from cup duties. On the one hand, Nuno Espirito Santo’s team will be traveling to the Amex Stadium with more fresh legs and confidence after their victory over Liverpool the previous Saturday.
However, because they advanced to a later round than Nuno’s team could, their next hosts had the opportunity to gain momentum after the international break and take advantage of the opportunity to reintegrate players who had recovered from injuries into the team.
The return of full-back Pervis Estupinan and midfielder Mats Wieffer was praised by head coach Fabian Hurzeler as his team defeated Wolves to go to the competition’s round of sixteen.
He remarked, “I’m not just happy for the substitutes; I’m also happy for the players who got some game time today, especially Mats, who returned from injury, and Pervis Estupinan, who had a lengthy injury.” It’s evident that they require game time in order to regain their rhythm. We also had some outstanding individual efforts on top of that.”
While the latter was making his first appearance as a substitute following an injury he sustained on the first day of the season, the former was making his first start for the club since recovering from injury prior to the international break. Evan Ferguson, who had been out since early April due to an ankle injury, was also making a similar comeback to his Ecuadorian teammate, and Hurzeler was happy with the indications he showed in a 63-minute game against Wolves.
The coach said, “I think we saw in some situations how good he can be,” in reference to the striker. In the first half, he had a few shots and put in a lot of effort to stop the ball. He can’t already be performing at the level he wants to and like he did when he was at the top of his game in the Premier League.
“We will try to get him there, he needs to train at 100 per cent and he needs to use every training sessions to get as fit as possible and then I’m sure that he will help us.”
Nevertheless, four Seagulls players did not play during this midweek, so it is unclear if they will be able to provide their team any more momentum or if Forest will be able to gain more assurance from the circumstance.
Joao Pedro is most likely to return, having not been risked in a Premier League or Carabao Cup match since his tardy return from international duty in South America last week.
However, midfielders Solly March, James Milner, and £25 million summer acquisition Matt O’Riley are all expected to miss significant amounts of time and are unlikely to be back in time for Forest after that. The latter, who needed surgery for a foot injury he sustained nine minutes into his debut last month, is an especially bitter loss for the home team.
Hurzeler reports that German winger Brajan Gruda, another summer addition, has also been sidelined due to a “small injury” and hasn’t yet been allowed to play for his new team.
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