Brazilian duo Murillo and Douglas Luiz were both injury doubts ahead of Nottingham Forest’s game against Sunderland and now an update on their fitness has been provided.
Murillo has been out since picking up an injury against Arsenal in Ange Postecoglou’s first game in charge, with Morato filling in quite well since.
Douglas Luiz was taken off against Real Betis due to a hamstring issue, which was a major blow to the Tricky Trees.
The midfielder was excellent in the Europa League as Forest dominated the first-half proceedings, and now an update on both Brazilians has been given.
Murillo injury return taking slower than expected
Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to the press ahead of Saturday’s fixture against Sunderland, and he has provided an update on the fitness of Murillo.
The Australian said, “Murillo is still kind of not where we want him to be. He is still not totally comfortable. He is still doing his individual training, and we hoped it would progress a little quicker.
“Obviously it was a pretty severe knock on his thigh, and the understanding was the healing process has been slower than what we thought. He just doesn’t feel comfortable, so we have to be patient with him.
“He is out on the grass and he is kind of working individually so it is about incorporating him back into the team.”
Murillo has seemingly yet to return to full team training, so Morato will be the likely partner for Nikola Milenkovic on Saturday.
The Serbian was also taken off against Real Betis, but it was only due to cramp and is available against Sunderland.
Douglas Luiz ruled out against Sunderland, but the injury is not serious
When it comes to Douglas Luiz, it is not good news for Nottingham Forest this weekend. The midfielder is ruled out against Sunderland, according to Ange Postecoglou.
The Forest head coach said, “Dougie wasn’t great yesterday either. We have sent him for a scan on his hamstring; he won’t be available for this weekend.
“We just have got to be really careful how we use him at the early parts of the year. He obviously had a lot of issues last year at Juventus and came in late here. I think we are being cautious, but we’ll see what the scans say and if he will be available this week.
“It is nothing serious; we know that it is nothing significant.”
Losing Douglas Luiz for Sunderland is a big blow, but Ange Postecoglou says the next international break could be a ‘good window’ for the club to get Luiz back up to peak physical fitness.
Nottingham Forest take on Sunderland at 5:30 BST on Saturday afternoon.
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