Nottingham Forest suffer significant injury blow ahead of FA Cup quarter-final and pivotal Premier League run in | OneFootball

Chris Wood picked up an injury on international duty with New Zealand and has now been ruled out of Nottingham Forest’s FA Cup quarter-final against Brighton.

The striker, who has 18 Premier League goals this season, was injured in New Zealand’s 3-0 win over New Caledonia.

After the game he confirmed the issue was with his hip: “That’s where the pain is at the moment. I felt it on that side so I’ll get it checked over and hopefully it is nothing too major and hopefully it’s just impact.”

Since leaving international camp and returning to Forest, Wood has conducted another check on his hip, which Nuno Espirito Santo revealed would keep him out against Brighton: “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.”

Nuno seemed frustrated at the international break and hinted this may not be the only injury: “Every time there is an international break we have to assess. Many of them just arrived today. We are still waiting on Ramon Sosa tomorrow and we will assess all of them.”

Forest will no doubt miss their striker, who has helped them to reach third spot this season in the Premier League, but will be hoping the injury does not rule him out for a lengthy period.

It is likely Forest will have to rely on back-up striker Taiwo Awoniyi for the huge clash. The Nigerian striker has scored only two goals this season.

For Forest, it is a chance to progress in the competition and finally win silverware for the first time since 1990. It is perhaps an even bigger occasion for Brighton, who have not won a major trophy since 1910.