Dyche reveals jaw-dropping number of Forest absentees before facing Liverpool | OneFootball

There was always a sense that this weekend might bring contrasting emotions for both clubs, and the latest update from the opposition dugout has underlined that feeling ahead of our trip to Nottinghamshire.

As reported via Liverpoolfc.com, Forest manager Sean Dyche arrived at his press conference with what was described as an actual written list of absentees before confirming only one potential return for the meeting with us.

The former Burnley and Everton boss revealed that Callum Hudson-Odoi, the scorer of the winner in this fixture last season, “has made good progress” and is “certainly in consideration to be in the squad”.

Dyche added: “He is around it… at least we can think about him being back in the fold, in the group, so that will be a positive.”

The news arrived amid wider uncertainty for Forest, who have been hit by multiple injuries across the pitch.

Liverpool prepare for Forest with our own injury updates in mind

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

While our opponent’s issues are extensive, we have recent concerns of our own after Arne Slot confirmed that both Conor Bradley and Florian Wirtz “cant play” against Forest, a situation described as “far from ideal”.

That led our head coach to admit that “maybe one or two players have to play in positions they normally won’t do”, a line that opens the door to further rotation.

These muscle issues intersect with the wider fixture load, with both players being heavily involved for club and country in the past month.

Forest injuries stack up as Liverpool look to regain momentum

(Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)

Dyche confirmed no other injured players are expected to return.

Chris Wood is due a re-scan, Douglas Luiz is “a matter of time”, Angus Gunn remains out, and Ola Aina, Dilane Bakwa, Oleksandr Zinchenko and young keeper Aaron Bott were all described as “making progress but not with us”.

The sheer length of that list will shape how Forest approach the match, though we cannot overlook our own developments this week.

One encouraging note came when our head coach confirmed that Alisson “trained last week and this week”, providing hope that our world-class goalkeeper could be ready if he comes through the final session.

That naturally follows the period in which we struggled without him, taking just three wins from eight matches during his absence.

With both sides carrying selection challenges into the weekend, this fixture may hinge on which manager finds the right balance in the circumstances.

You can view Slot’s pre-Nottingham Forest press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:

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