Nottingham Forest are facing a defensive crisis ahead of their clash with Derby County on Monday, according to the Mirror.
The newspaper claimed on their live transfer blog on Wednesday [09:10pm] that centre back Michael Dawson is facing six weeks out with a hamstring injury, while fellow defender Danny Fox is likely to be sidelined for three more weeks with a foot problem.
To compound Aitor Karanka’s misery, centre back Tobias Figueiredo is suspended for the derby game against Frank Lampard’s side.
Karanka was forced to field an unfamiliar backline against Preston North End last time out, with left back Jack Robinson lining up alongside Michael Hefele at centre half and midfielder Ben Osborn on the left hand side of defence.
OPINION
This isn’t looking good for Forest’s chances on Monday. Derby are having an excellent season and would be tough opposition for a full-strength Forest team, let alone the injury ravaged defence that will line up against Lampard’s side at Pride Park. Dawson has been a big player of late for Forest so to lose him for six weeks is a major blow to Karanka’s hopes, while Fox’s absence only serves to stretch the manager’s resources even further. This is the last game of Figueirdo’s three game suspension so he will be back soon, which is a relief, but that won’t help in the short term against the Rams. It will be interesting to see if the former Middlesbrough boss decides to address this problem in January or if he simply rides it out until Dawson returns. Whatever he plans to do, however, he will undoubtedly be stretched against Derby.