Nottingham Forest vs Birmingham - Henri Lansbury missing for Nottingham Forest's clash with Birmingham

Posted Tuesday, January 12, 2016 by PA

Nottingham Forest will be without skipper Henri Lansbury for the clash with Birmingham.

The midfielder suffered an ankle injury just 17 minutes after coming on as a substitute in Forest's 1-0 FA Cup win over QPR on Saturday.

Lansbury's injury means Gary Gardner, a recent loan signing from Aston Villa, is set to retain his place after returning to the midfield against QPR.

Manager Dougie Freedman, whose side have drawn their last three league matches 1-1, is already without Andy Reid (groin), Britt Assombalonga (knee), Daniel Pinillos (knee) and Matty Fryatt (Achilles).

David Cotterill and Neal Eardley are both out of Birmingham's trip to the City Ground.

The duo came off at half-time of Saturday's 2-1 FA Cup defeat against Bournemouth after only just returning from injury.

Cotterill was withdrawn at the interval suffering from a tight hamstring while Eardley has a knee problem.

Blues boss Gary Rowett told the club's official site: "It's an awkward one at the moment. Cotts trained all week, we knew it was a little bit of a gamble but I wanted to start him because I felt it was better for him than to come off the bench cold later in the game."