Vitor Pereira delivers Nottingham Forest surprise as injury concerns remain ahead of semi-final | OneFootball

Vitor Pereira has sprung a selection surprise for Nottingham Forest at Chelsea this afternoon, rotating heavily amid lingering injuries. The Reds visit Villa Park on Thursday for the Europa League semi-final second leg, carrying a 1-0 lead from Chris Wood’s City Ground penalty.

Nottingham Post reports that centre-back Murillo remains sidelined with the hamstring injury from last month’s win at Burnley, while Jair Cunha returns to the XI after missing the win over Aston Villa. Ibrahim Sangare, Dan Ndoye and Ola Aina are absent, the latter forced off on Thursday with a knock.

Pereira has benched several regulars, with Morgan Gibbs-White, Elliot Anderson, Nikola Milenkovic, Neco Williams and Wood among the substitutes. A makeshift defence features Zach Abbott and Luca Netz at full-back, plus Jair and Morato in front of goalkeeper Matz Sels.

Ryan Yates and Nicolas Dominguez partner in midfield, with Igor Jesus as the No.10 and Dilane Bakwa and James McAtee out wide. Taiwo Awoniyi leads the line. Other bench options include Stefan Ortega, Eric da Silva Moreira, Lorenzo Lucca and Omari Hutchinson.

Forest arrive unbeaten in nine in all competitions and have won their last two Premier League matches, seeking three on the spin to edge closer to safety. They begin the day 16th, three points above the drop zone, on 39 points with four games left. Tottenham Hotspur moved to within two points of Pereira’s side with victory over Aston Villa on Sunday, while West Ham United sit 18th.

Source: Nottingham Post