Ryan Yates has been a big absentee from the Nottingham Forest squad in recent weeks.
If there is one player who hates missing football matches, it’s the Forest captain who lives and breathes the football club.
Yates was spotted on the bench with the coaching staff during a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa, and he’s sat out the last eight matches in all competitions.
It will have hurt the midfielder to miss games at a pivotal point of the season and ahead of this weekend’s big game against Arsenal, Sean Dyche has been discussing the player’s fitness.
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Sean Dyche gives update on fitness of Ryan Yates
The challenge of facing a formidable Arsenal with Dyche at home doesn’t feel overly fanciful for Forest given his abysmal style of play.
However, Yates might be back in the reckoning this weekend after his injury healed sufficiently for him to take part in training.
Dyche said in his press conference: “Yates has been back on the grass with us and he’s shown no signs of anything other than being recovered…He’s trained all this week, and he feels good.”
Yates is the only survivor from the Forest team which won promotion to the Premier League and he will want to fight tooth and nail to ensure the Reds don’t return to the EFL.
Should Ryan Yates start for Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal?
Let us know in the comments below…
Yates can add something but another player is more important
Nobody will ever doubt Yates for his commitment to the Forest cause, but there is another player who Forest desperately need this weekend.
Ibrahim Sangare produced a masterclass against Tottenham before he went to the African Cup of Nations, and the Reds desperately need him to pick up where he left off.
Sangare is a fantastic player on his day and he perhaps adds something a little bit different to Yates in the sense that he can very quickly turn defence into attack.
Still, it’s great that both midfielders should be back in the squad this weekend and it will be fascinating to see what Dyche decides to pick for his starting eleven.
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