Cheikhou Kouyate comeback latest as Nottingham Forest receive fresh boost ahead Tottenham clash

Nottingham Forest will head to north London this weekend aiming to damage the already fragile confidence of Tottenham who crashed out of the Champions League in midweek.

Tottenham’s season is now hinged on finishing in the top four of the Premier League following a disastrous last 10 days where they have lost to Sheffield United to exit the FA Cup, before deservedly being dumped out of Europe by Italian Champions AC Milan.

They will now face a Nottingham Forest side who haven’t been great on the road but will smell blood given how poorly Spurs have been in their last three games.

Nottingham Forest have lost eight of their last 10 Premier League matches in London including a 4-0 loss to West Ham on their last visit, so Steve Cooper will hope his team can at least hold up for a point in north London on Saturday afternoon.

The Nottingham Forest manager confirmed former Crystal Palace midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate- who hasn’t played for the club since injuring his hamstring at the World Cup last year is close to returning to action.

He said: “I don’t think there are any fresh injuries. Some boys are getting close.

“Chiekhou has done a little bit of training this week, so he is close. We didn’t risk him today when the snow came down, because it would have been silly to do that.

“The boys are getting closer, but nothing that is really going to affect this weekend but as the days and weeks go by it becomes a bit more positive. The quicker we can get some guys back, the better.”

“We’ve had to train in the snow. It was something which became unavoidable because it came down so quickly.

“An hour before we actually trained it was fine, and then by the time training came around it was snowy. But we trained.”

Tottenham will also be without captain Hugo Lloris and midfield duo of Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma who are long-term absentees.