Latest Nottingham Forest news as Sean Dyche's Reds beaten 3-1 by Leeds United in Premier League clash at Elland Road
05:00, 07 Feb 2026Updated 08:50, 07 Feb 2026
Nottingham Forest head coach Sean Dyche on the touchline against Leeds United
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Nottingham Forest head coach Sean Dyche on the touchline against Leeds United
Nottingham Forest are hopeful centre-back Murillo will be fit for Wednesday’s crunch clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Brazilian was a late withdrawal for Friday night’s trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United. He sustained a calf problem in training on Thursday and was not involved in the Reds’ 3-1 defeat.
It meant head coach Sean Dyche was forced into a last-minute reshuffle of his defence for such a key game. But there is a chance Murillo could be back for the midweek match at the City Ground.
“It’s his calf, so we’ll wait and see,” Dyche said. “We think he’s got a chance (for Wednesday). We don’t think it’s too serious.
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“Pulling out late wasn’t ideal for us, obviously. We had to change the format and make all these (selection) decisions last minute. That’s sometimes the way it is, it’s no one’s fault and certainly not his.”
In Murillo’s absence, Morato partnered Nikola Milenkovic in the heart of Forest’s defence. Meanwhile, centre-back Zach Abbott was deployed at right-back and Ola Aina switched to the left to cover for the loss of suspended full-back Neco Williams.
The two sides were level on points prior to kick-off and had the carrot of moving nine clear of the bottom three with a victory. Leeds were the ones to grasp that opportunity, leaving Dyche’s men facing another key fixture against relegation rivals Wolves in a few days’ time.
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“When we got here, we were two points in the relegation zone. Now, we are six points out of it,” Dyche said.
“The work continues. I wasn’t getting carried away when we beat Liverpool 3-0. I wasn’t getting carried away when we beat Tottenham 3-0 and people were saying it was one of the best performances they’d seen from this team in the Premier League.
“My messages often stay the same. The work is still the work and still has to be done. I know if we had won, the work still wouldn’t be done.
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“There is a lot of football still to be played. I look at whether the work is done at the end of the season, not when we win or lose a game.”
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