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By Ebenezer Bajela
Nottingham Forest manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, has revealed that Nigeria international, Taiwo Awoniyi, may return to action against Arsenal when both sides meet in an English Premier League game on Tuesday (today), PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Espirito Santo in a press conference ahead of the Gunners’ visit confirmed that the Super Eagles striker alongside Anthony Elanga and Felipe has all returned to training and has been included in the squad for the game despite not being 100 per cent fit.
Awoniyi suffered a groin injury during an international game between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia in Portugal in October and had to undergo surgery to correct a groin injury.
Forest’s former manager, Steve Cooper, announced in November that the striker would be out of action for some months after undergoing the surgery, thus ruling him out of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
In a bid to be fit for the second half of the season, Awoniyi started his recovery from the groin injury in December. After being out of action for over three months, the Nigerian is now set to return to the pitch and could do so against Arsenal.
“The players that were out have joined the group, even though they are not 100 per cent, we have decided to have them around, in the cases of Taiwo and Anthony and Felipe,” he said.
“We decided as a group to bring them to the squad, even though they are not really yet. We will have to decide, they are going to be with us and then we will decide.
“Awoniyi is in the process of recovering and getting the fitness levels right. It was our decision to bring them to the group. Instead of waiting for them to be 100 per cent ready, we decided to bring them in and after that, we will decide.”
Awoniyi had a good start to the season for Nottingham Forest, registering four goals and two assists in his first ten Premier League appearances.