Nuno Espirito Santo hopes that Taiwo Awoniyi will be able to attend Nottingham Forest’s final-day clash with Chelsea at the City Ground.
The Forest head coach says Awoniyi is expected to remain in hospital for another five days, as he continues his recovery from emergency surgery on his abdomen.
Awoniyi was rushed to hospital on Monday, after the club’s medical staff highlighted the seriousness of his injury, which was sustained when he collided with the post in the 87th minute of the 2-2 draw with Leicester City.
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The 27-year-old was placed into a medical coma as part of the recovery process, but is now awake.
“He went to surgery, surgery went well, thank God,” Nuno said at his pre-match news conference on Friday. “He is under observation now, but he is recovering. We still have to wait for the doctors to allow visits (beyond immediate family). His family are there with him. We are concerned but it is positive.
“It has been very difficult because of the concern of the injury; the situation he went through. It’s been very difficult, very difficult on us and on everybody, the concern of the injury that he had, the situation that he has been through, it’s been hard on us. The information that we have is that at least five days he has to be there under observation, so that everything goes well.”
Awoniyi was initially able to play on after three minutes of treatment at the City Ground, but was unable to run or contribute to the game. Forest had used their final substitute window to bring on Jota Silva in place of Elliot Anderson, in the belief that Awoniyi was not badly hurt.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis made his way onto the pitch after the final whistle to voice his frustration over the miscommunication that left Forest effectively with ten men. But since then, the focus has been on Awoniyi’s recovery and Nuno is hopeful that Nigeria international will be healthy enough to come to the final game of the season, when Forest will hope that Champions League football might still be a possibility, as they take on top-five rivals Chelsea.
“If I had to change anything, it would be that, immediately if we knew the seriousness of the injury, we would have called the ambulance and sent him to the hospital. But none of us knew that,” Nuno added.
“We try to visit him. I’ll try to visit him as soon as possible. He’s in good hands, and the family is there, which is, I think what he really needs is the support of the family.
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“The players are constantly chatting on their (chat) groups. We know that he’s well, he just needs time. I hope that next week he can join us and be around because he’s a wonderful boy, a wonderful boy, and this season has been so hard on him.
“Now we must focus on the task ahead of us, because we are fighting for something huge.”
(Photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
