Nottingham Forest will lock horns with Reading tomorrow knowing that three points would likely see them return into the play-off places in the Sky Bet Championship.
It’s fair to say that results in midweek couldn’t have gone much better for the Reds, but they weren’t able to take advantage as they themselves fell to defeat against Hull City at the City Ground.
Sabri Lamouchi’s men will look to get back to winning ways after suffering back-to-back defeats for the first time this season. They have still only lost on home soil twice this season.
The Reds boss could again make changes to his team after a very disappointing defeat against the Tigers.
One player who might well have to settle for a place on the bench is João Carvalho. He was reintroduced to the starting line-up against Hull having been left out against Wigan Athletic, but failed to make an impression.
Carvalho looked in the mood in the early stages of the game, but quickly faded and went missing for large periods. For a player who the club signed for £13.2 million from Benfica last summer, you’d expect a lot more from him.
It would, of course, be harsh to drop Carvalho after one below-par performance. In truth though, the 22-year-old is still yet to get back to his best after missing the majority of pre-season through injury.
Lamouchi has a number of other options to call upon if he does decide to make a change. John Bostock didn’t perform too badly against Wigan, and Ryan Yates made a positive impression when he was introduced against Hull on Wednesday.
Decision
It’s a big call for Lamouchi to make as arguably the only way Carvalho is going to improve is by getting more games under his belt.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see what the Frenchman opts to do ahead of another tough encounter against the Royals.
Here’s what a number of Nottingham Forest supporters think about this big selection call ahead of tomorrow’s game:
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