Nottingham Forest midfielder Tiago Silva is continuing his recovery from injury - but still “needs time” before he can return to action.
The Portuguese is sidelined with an ankle problem and has missed the Reds’ opening two games of the season, against Barnsley and QPR.
He is unlikely to return before the end of the month, but ahead of Saturday’s clash with Cardiff City, head coach Sabri Lamouchi said the 27-year-old is making progress.
“Tiago is close,” Lamouchi told NottinghamshireLive.
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“He started to run on Wednesday, but he needs time.”
Forest go into the lunchtime Championship fixture looking to get off the mark this season, in their first outing at the City Ground.
A clumsy foul from Tobias Figueiredo handed Rangers the chance to take the lead from the penalty spot in last week’s match at Loftus Road.
And missed chances - with Lewis Grabban, Ryan Yates, and Sammy Ameobi going close - then proved costly as the hosts killed the game off for a 2-0 win.
Lamouchi is looking for a response from his team this weekend as a promotion push again remains the goal.
“For me, we gave QPR the three points with our mistakes,” said the Frenchman.
“We have to work. We have to be more solid, stronger and when you have a chance to score, you have to score.
“When you have the chance to kill the game, you need to kill the opposition.
“For sure, we are not 100 percent ready. And if it is like that, we need to change the way. The way is not open, more compact, more aggressive, more focused and more simple in the game.
“It is not an easy process to change the mentality, but we have to work on that.
“In this division, quality is not enough and talent is not enough; we need a strong team, team spirit, to be organised and to be really consistent."
