By Milcah Tanimu

Nottingham Forest manager, Steve Cooper, has indicated that striker Taiwo Awoniyi is expected to once again begin the match as a substitute when Forest takes on Sheffield United in their first home game of the season at The City Ground on Friday. This decision echoes last week’s situation where Awoniyi was also not in the starting lineup for Forest’s 2-1 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

In the previous game, Awoniyi, who had started from the bench, continued his goal-scoring form from the prior season by finding the back of the net and opening his goal account for the current 2023/24 season.

Cooper had previously explained that Awoniyi, along with Moussa Niakhaté from Senegal, were still recovering from injuries and could only be expected to play for around 15 to 20 minutes.

During a post-match interview, Cooper mentioned, “Both have had minutes in different ways and forms. Last week, Taiwo came on at Arsenal, which was a slight risk because he hadn’t done much training. But obviously, when the game is ongoing, and you have an opportunity to make such a change, you take it.”

He further mentioned that both players are in better condition now, having had unfortunate injuries, and the club is working on gradually restoring their full fitness. Cooper stated that they are looking to get Awoniyi and Niakhaté back into the starting lineup, but they’re not quite there yet.

Even though Awoniyi faced some time on the sidelines last season, he managed to become Forest’s top scorer with 10 goals in the English Premier League.