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Nottingham Forest face Fenerbahce in the Europa League before they welcome Liverpool to the City Ground.
Nottingham Forest could be without a key player for their clash against Liverpool.
The Reds travel to the City Ground on Sunday aiming to bolster their chances of securing a top-five Premier League finish and securing Champions League qualification.
Liverpool have injury issues heading into the game against relegation-threatening Forest, who announced Vitor Pereira as their new head coach earlier this week. Jeremie Frimpong is highly unlikely to be back from a groin injury while Alexander Isak, Wataru Endo, Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Jayden Danns and Stefan Bajcetic remain absent.
However, Forest have suggested that goalkeeper Matz Sels will remain absent. Selz has missed the past two games with a groin injury, having been forced off in a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace.
Pereira takes charge of his first game as Forest boss when they face Fenerbahce in the Europa League knockout play-off first leg in Istanbul on Thursday day. But the City Ground side have announced that Sels has been removed from their UEFA squad for both matches, with January signing Stefan Ortega taking the Belgium international’s place.
With the Liverpool game being sandwich between both Fenerbahce games, it appears that Selz will be sidelined. A Forest statement said: “Nottingham Forest can confirm that Stefan Ortega has been added to the club’s UEFA A List ahead of the Europa League play-off fixtures against Turkish side Fenerbahçe.
“The January signing replaces Matz Sels on the list. Ortega will be available for both fixtures against Fenerbahçe. Forest face Fenerbahçe in Istanbul on Thursday evening before welcoming the Turkish club to the City Ground the following week for the second leg.”
Selz was immense between the posts for Forest last season as they finished seventh in the Premier League. The 33-year-old kept 13 clean sheets and shared the Premier League Golden Glove award with Arsenal’s David Raya.
En route to winning the Premier League title, Liverpool had to come from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at Forest. Sels made several saves to earn the home side a share of the spoils. Former head coach Nuno Espirito Santo said: “Second half, we knew Liverpool would react.
“Matz Sels was huge for us and kept us in the game. In the final minutes, it was about heart and desire to defend and at the same time go for the attacks. The runs our players made and the support of our fans in added time was really nice to see.”
Speaking on Sels’ performances throughout last season, former Tottenham and England goalkeeper Paul Robinson said: "The big compliment you can pay Matz Sels, I don't think he's technically one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League.
"But you look at another stat this season, which is what I like to look at, is the amount of saves he's made and the biggest stat I like, save to shot per cent ratio - that's how you can judge a goalkeeper.
"Selz has won the Golden Glove, but he's also second in the number of saves he's made. So, he's not only relied on the brilliance of [Nikola] Milenkovic and Murillo in front of him and the defence being solid and the team being organised, he's had to make a number of saves to contribute to that. You've got to take your hat off to him, he's had a fantastic season."
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