Nottingham Forest dealt fresh major injury concern ahead of Newcastle United visit

Nottingham Forest are sweating over Brennan Johnson’s fitness ahead of Friday night’s Premier League clash against Newcastle United.

The 21-year-old was forced off in the 67th minute of the Reds’ 3-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday after feeling some discomfort in his groin.

Johnson was among three players to pick up injuries in North London, including Wayne Hennessey and Chris Wood, although the latter is ineligible to face his parent club.

Steve Cooper, head coach of Forest, explained: “Wayne felt his knee, so he wasn’t able to go on the bench.

“Brennan has come off with a groin strain; we don’t know how bad it is yet, we’ll see how he is in the next day or two.

“He has been a really important player for us, but we’ll see how he is. Let’s see when it settles down, see what the scan says, and fingers crossed it’s not as severe as these injuries can be.

“Woody was just so unfortunate. He goes on, and in his first moment in the game he gets a really bad knock to his thigh which really swells up instantly like you wouldn’t believe.

“He tried to carry on with it, but it was just impossible. When he came to the halfway line and I saw it, I knew he wouldn’t be able to carry on, even though he tried. That was really unfortunate.”

The severity of Johnson’s injury is not yet confirmed after undergoing a scan, but Forest fans are hopeful of positive news after the forward was today named in Wales’ squad for the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Croatia and Latvia at the end of the month.

Johnson is the Reds’ top scorer this campaign with nine goals in all competitions.