Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo has confirmed that Morgan Gibbs-White and Anthony Elanga will both miss their trip to Brentford on Saturday.
Gibbs-White was not in the squad that beat Blackpool 3-2 after extra time in their FA Cup third round replay at Bloomfield Road on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, Elanga has not featured since being replaced late on in their win over Manchester United at the end of December, missing both cup ties against Blackpool.
The pair have played a crucial part in everything good about Forest going forward this season, with Elanga in particular having a fine debut season with the club, contributing to 10 league goals already.
Gibbs-White has also stepped forward with some very important strikes in recent weeks, with the most notable being the winner against Man United at the City Ground to round off 2023.
The 23-year-old midfielder repeated the trick with another fine effort which forced their tie with Blackpool to go to a replay.
However, speaking ahead of Forest's trip to the Gtech Community Stadium at the weekend, Nuno confirmed both players will miss out.
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"We hope Elanga will be back soon, we are not sure yet, but tomorrow for sure he is not available." Nuno confirmed about his Swedish winger, who will have to wait a little longer for his first start of the year.
The Forest boss added: "Morgan [Gibbs-White] already did his scan and unfortunately he has an injury. He is recovering and getting better, but for now, he is not available. One more week hopefully."
Nuno is already without Taiwo Awoniyi and Divock Origi in attack, and Chris Wood played 120 minutes at Blackpool in midweek.
Callum Hudson-Odoi has shaken off early-season injury woes to return to the side in recent weeks, but Forest were very short in attacking numbers in midweek.
Nicolas Dominguez and Ryan Yates both started in more advanced positions against Blackpool given the absences of Gibbs-White and Elanga, and may be forced to do so again at Brentford.
Along with the current batch of injuries, Forest have six players away at the Africa Cup of Nations too, with defenders Ola Aina, Serge Aurier, Willy Boly and Moussa Niakhate, and holding midfield duo Ibrahim Sangare and Cheikhou Kouyate all representing their nations this month.
Andrew Delaney
