Nottingham Forest dealt huge injury blow for FA Cup quarter-final as key player misses out

Nottingham Forest will be without Chris Wood for their FA CUp quarter-final clash against Brighton.

The striker, who is Forest’s top scorer this season with 18 goals, picked up an injury while on international duty with New Zealand and will not feature the Amex Stadium on Saturday.

Ahead of the game, manager Nuno Espirito Santo said: “He went for a scan today. We are still waiting. He has been to a specialist for a scan. We will wait on the information and see.

“He will not be available for this game. He felt a kick really hard on his hip so there is pain there. We have to wait.”

The Forest boss said he will assess the squad later today with a number returning from international duty.

“Every time there is an international break we have to assess,” he added. “Many of them just arrived today. We are still waiting on Ramon Sosa tomorrow and we will assess all of them.”

Best shot conversion rates in the Premier League since the start of last season (100+ shots):

◎ 31.7% – Chris Wood
◎ 28.0% – Jean-Philippe Mateta
◎ 27.2% – Alexander Isak
◎ 21.5% – Erling Haaland
◎ 20.9% – Bryan Mbeumo pic.twitter.com/F8cp5DcjbY

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 26, 2025

Nuno: Gibb-White does not have to prove anybody wrong

Morgan Gibbs-White enjoyed a mixed international period, having initially been left out of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad before he was drafted in for the injured Cole Palmer.

Disappointingly though, the 25-year-old was left out of England’s first game against Albania before he was left on the bench for the second game against Latvia.

Nuno added: “We are proud of all of our players that went on international break. Morgan went and he was in the squad and hopefully he gets a chance in the future.

“With Morgan, I know him so well and he knows me. We don’t need to talk. For me, Morgan is a top, top player with so much talent and quality.

“The level of performance and quality he has been giving to us with and without the ball – I admire Morgan.

“He doesn’t have to prove anybody wrong. This is not the state of mind that he should have. He has to compete and play and give his teammates and Nottingham Forest everything he has. Things will come naturally.”

Nuno slams deadline day date

Espirito Santo faced the media shortly after clubs agreed to keep the summer transfer window deadline day to the end of Augustl rather than change to shut before the season starts on August 16.

On the vote, he added: “I think honestly the big issue still remains and that is that the window will still be open when the competition of the Premier League starts.

“That battle is not won. What I believe is better for the competition is that the moment it starts, the window should be closed.”