Newcastle United kick-off their 2022/23 campaign with the visit of newly-promoted Nottingham Forest at St James’ Park on Saturday.
Steve Cooper steered the Reds to promotion via the play-offs after taking over with the club sat bottom of the Championship in September 2021.
Forest have added 12 new additions to their squad ahead their first Premier League season in 23 years. Here is a full look at Nottingham Forest’s injury list and how they could set-up on Saturday.
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Ryan Yates
Injury: Knee
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What we know: The midfielder picked up a knock against Notts County in their penultimate pre-season friendly. He had just missed the previous four friendlies and was returning from a knee injury which he suffered during the Reds’ pre-season training camp in Spain.
What Cooper said: “Ryan Yates hasn’t got back in time, he’s not far away. That’s a real blow for him because he would’ve loved to have been a part of Saturday.”
Return date: Not specified
Wayne Hennessey
Injury: Unknown
What we know: Hennessey joined from Burnley this summer and missed their final friendly against Burnley but Cooper has confirmed he is fit for the trip to Newcastle.
What Cooper said: “Wayne Hennessey is back training. He missed the last game with a really small injury and he’s available for the weekend.”
Return date: Newcastle United away on August 6.
Omar Richards
Injury: Hairline fracture of the leg
What we know: Richards sustained a hairline fracture of the leg less than two weeks after joining Forest from Bayern Munich. This has prevented him from featuring in any of the Reds’ pre-season friendlies. The Athletic estimated a recovery period of up to 10 weeks and Cooper hasn’t provided an update since.
What Cooper said (21 July): “He has picked up an injury, and we’re still getting to the bottom of it. It’s really unfortunate. It’s not going to be a few days, but it’s not going to be months and months and months. It’s something we’re going through and working on.
“When we know conclusive dates, we’ll let you know. But I guess the short-term feeling of it is one of a little bit of disappointment, because we got him here and he was so excited. He trained really well, and obviously it’s a bit of a setback. I said to him, ‘nothing changes, in terms of the plan for you, it’s just a little bit delayed’.
How Forest could set-up
Predicted Starting XI: Dean Henderson; Joe Worrall, Steve Cook, Scott McKenna; Neco Williams, Jack Colback, Lewis O’Brien, Harry Toffolo; Jesse Lingard; Brennan Johnson, Taiwo Awoniyi.
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