Oliver Glasner hands Nottingham Forest a big blow ahead of crunch Crystal Palace clash

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Nottingham Forest need to bounce back against Crystal Palace after Thursday’s display against Brentford, but Oliver Glasner has made that task much more difficult.

The Brentford defeat left Forest’s Champions League chances in doubt, as those around Nuno Espirito Santo’s side begin to capitalise on the Reds’ dip in form.

The City Ground atmosphere was hailed, but those on the pitch couldn’t capitalise on the noise, leading to the likes of Murillo being criticised by Forest fans.

All focus must be on stopping the rut and reigniting the Champions League battle, but Palace boss Glasner has sent an early warning in his pre-match press conference.

Crystal Palace will be fit and firing against Nottingham Forest

Like plenty of teams this season, Palace came to the City Ground and tasted defeat earlier in the campaign, with Glasner hailing Matz Sels for his work to earn Forest a clean sheet.

Palace are fresh off a trip to Wembley, where they beat Aston Villa 3-0 in the FA Cup semi-final and judging by what Glasner has said in the buildup to Monday, his side are buoyant.

He said on the Crystal Palace website: “It’s good times at the moment. Everyone had a few days off and could enjoy the win [vs Villa], but yesterday we met and we watched a few clips from the semi-final and analysed it.

“We had two very good sessions. I was very surprised – usually after four days off, it takes a bit of time, but the players looked very sharp, very focused and had great intensity, great quality in the training sessions, and today was the same.

“All players are still fit, no problems. All players take part in the training sessions, and this is how we want to end the season.”

Given how dominant they were against Villa, the Forest coaching staff won’t be happy to hear that they’ll be facing Palace at their best, especially given the injury concerns in the Reds’ camp.

Nuno Espirito Santo has injury concerns vs Crystal Palace

Most obviously, the fitness of Callum Hudson-Odoi will be something that Forest fans will be keeping an eye on ahead of Monday.

Hudson-Odoi limped off against Brentford, and Espirito Santo was far from positive about the situation in his post-match comments, saying: “He felt something in his hamstring, we have to assess now.”

Alongside more obvious injuries, there will be natural concerns about the match fitness of Ola Aina, who returned to the starting XI on Thursday night after injury.

Lasting 75 minutes, Aina only won 43% of his duels in the game and was uncharacteristically lapse as Kevin Schade ran beyond him for Brentford’s opening goal.

The Forest squad is showing signs of fatigue at the worst possible time, facing up against a side who are fit and ready to punish Espirito Santo’s side.