The wait is almost over.
Championship football gets back underway this weekend with Nottingham Forest facing Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Saturday afternoon, fresh from the news that their head coach has agreed a new deal.
The Reds haven’t played a competitive game since the 3-0 shock home defeat to Millwall in late March, and Sabri Lamouchi will still be keen to see a response from his players to kick-start their play-off bid.
Lamouchi is boosted by the return of Samba Sow, Tiago Silva and Nuno da Costa, all of whom were nursing problems prior to the stoppage, while long-term absentee Tendayi Darikwa is back having recovered from his serious knee injury.
There are one or two slight concerns over midfield general Ben Watson, after he picked up a knock in the 2-0 friendly win over Wolves earlier this month, though Lamouchi will hope he's available.
A number of academy players have been featuring in the first team training sessions, and one of those, Yassine En-Neyah, has picked up a hamstring problem so will be a doubt ahead of the trip to Hillsborough, but from a senior player point of view, the Reds will travel in good shape.
Brice Samba will remain Forest’s number one goalkeeper after Aro Muric’s loan spell was not extended, and it’s likely the impressive Yuri Ribeiro will play at left-back.
Despite Michael Dawson recovering from his pre-lockdown problem, Lamouchi is almost certain to go with Tobias Figueiredo and Joe Worrall in the heart of the back four, with Matty Cash operating on the right.
Cash will know he needs to pick up from where he left off after a terrific season to date, given that fit again Carl Jenkinson and Darikwa will both be desperate for action.
The Reds will hope Watson is fine to play alongside Sow in the middle of the park, with the powerful midfielder likely to replace Alfa Semedo - Sow's importance to Forest cannot be underestimated.
Lamouchi will also have a decision to make over who operates in the number 10 role, given Joao Carvalho’s last outing didn’t go quite to plan and with his compatriot Tiago Silva, fit again, it would take a brave man to bet against Silva returning to the starting XI.
Fresh from penning his new one-year deal, Sammy Ameobi is almost certain to link up again with Joe Lolley and leading marksman Lewis Grabban as part of the attacking trio.
John Bostock is one of Lamouchi’s loan players that remains available and is pushing for a start, but will likely have to settle for a place on the bench despite impressing against the Lions all those weeks ago.
Predicted starting XI: Samba, Ribeiro, Worrall, Figueiredo, Cash, Watson, Sow, Lolley, Silva, Ameobi, Grabban.
