Nottingham Forest will be without midfielder Jack Colback for Wednesday night’s clash with Watford.
The summer signing was forced off with an ankle injury just before half-time of Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Swansea City, after being on the receiving end of a strong challenge.
He will miss the midweek game against the Hornets at the City Ground, as the Reds look to arrest a three-match losing streak.
“Jack will miss the game. At the moment he’s quite sore,” said boss Chris Hughton.
“Having seen the challenge again, I can understand the referee initially not giving a free-kick, because the lad did play the ball. But it was a fairly hefty follow-through.
“We’ll assess him over the next couple of days, but he will miss tomorrow.”
The game is also likely to come too soon for a number of players who are making their way back from a spell on the sidelines.
Joe Worrall (foot), Tyler Blackett (unspecified), Samba Sow (hamstring), Michael Dawson (calf) and Lewis Grabban (hip) all returned to training last week.
“We’re probably still assessing them,” said Hughton, who also still has Gaetan Bong (hamstring) and Luke Freeman (groin) on the injury list.
“Initially, the answer is probably, yes, it is too soon for them.
“But when you have a squad that’s training, you always have to assess each individual case.
“Some are going to be ready quicker than others.
“The important thing is it’s good to have them back on the training pitch.
“The little bit of training that we’ve been able to do, it has made it competitive and with a lot of bodies.”
A tough run of fixtures sees the Reds take on a Watford side sitting third in the table, in contrast to their own position of 21st spot.
Hughton feels his team have not got the results they have deserved in recent outings, but accepts there is much room for improvement.
“There is that difference between results and performances,” he said in his pre-match press conference.
“There are aspects of the last three games that I’ve been happy with, but of course not the results.
“Would I have preferred to have played poorly and won all three games? Of course the answer is, yes.
“But ultimately, the way to get results is with a level of performance.
“I’ve got to get that balance right, and in recent games we haven’t been able to do that.
“On paper, these are six of our toughest games, and we happen to have them one after the other.
“But ever after this period, there isn’t that one game where you can think, ‘this will be a comfortable game’.
“It’s the nature of this division, and it’s the same for every team.
“Watford have got a lot of quality all over the pitch, as was the case with Bournemouth.
“They showed in their last game (a 4-1 win over Preston North End) an ability to score goals, and they can stay in games.
“We will expect that type of quality.
“But one aspect is about the opposition and another is about our own performance. We know we will have to perform well to get something from the game.”
