Nottingham Forest have received a welcome injury boost ahead of their Premier League trip to Anfield, with manager Oliver Glasner confirming that Morgan Gibbs-White is fit and available to face Liverpool on Saturday.
The England international played the full 90 minutes in Forest's opening-day defeat to Leeds United, a match they lost 1-0 at the City Ground, but emerged from the game with knee discomfort after initially twisting his ankle during the contest. As a precaution, Gibbs-White was left out of the squad entirely for Forest's Carabao Cup second-round rematch against the same Leeds side in midweek, a game Forest also lost, falling 2-0 on home soil in a below-par performance.
Despite that setback in the cup, Glasner is expected to restore Gibbs-White to his starting eleven for the lunchtime kick-off against Liverpool, having declared the midfielder fully fit heading into the fixture.
Gibbs-White is not the only player returning to contention. Club captain Ryan Yates, who has yet to feature this season because of an unspecified issue that kept him out of Forest's final pre-season friendly against Brest, has also been cleared to play.
"Morgan is available, and Ryan Yates is available, which is good news," Glasner told reporters at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
However, the head coach was not able to deliver an entirely clean bill of health. Midfielder Ibrahim Sangare has been ruled out of the Anfield trip after picking up a minor calf injury during training this week, joining long-term absentee Nicolo Savona on the sidelines.
"But Ibrahim has picked up a minor calf injury in Wednesday's training session and will miss tomorrow's game. But the other two are available," Glasner added.
Savona, an Italian full-back, has not featured for Forest since January and underwent knee surgery in March. Glasner revealed last week that the defender had suffered a setback in his recovery process and remains further from full fitness than the club had initially hoped.
There was better news regarding Neco Williams, who has attracted transfer interest from Tottenham Hotspur. The Welsh full-back picked up a knock during the midweek Carabao Cup tie against Leeds but has since been declared fit for the Liverpool encounter.
Glasner also used his press conference to discuss the club's summer recruitment, addressing the signing of striker Liam Delap, who arrived at the City Ground after previously being linked with a move to Chelsea.
"We were in talks for many days to be honest, we tried to convince him and obviously we could convince Liam that Nottingham Forest is the right club, at the right moment for where he is in his career," Glasner explained. "Also I think, before he picked Chelsea, everybody in the Premier League wanted Liam after his amazing season at Ipswich."
The Austrian coach elaborated on the tactical rationale behind pursuing Delap, explaining how the forward fits into Forest's evolving system alongside proven Premier League goalscorer Chris Wood and Igor Jesus.
"When we heard that it was possible [to sign Delap] and we were looking for a striker, with physicality and especially pace and runs in behind. We had other profiles, with a top, top striker in the box with Chris Wood, a proven Premier League goalscorer," Glasner said. "We are playing more with a number nine, with Igor. We were looking for this profile and Liam was the fit. We are the perfect club for him and I am convinced that he is the perfect player for us."
Forest will look to bounce back from their disappointing start to the campaign when they travel to Anfield for Saturday's lunchtime fixture against Liverpool.
Based on reporting from Standard Football.