Aina to miss today's away game at Villa after picking up a knock at African Nations Cup

SUPER Eagles fullback Ola Aina will be missing from Nottingham Forest's league game against Aston Villa today with an injury which his manager Nuno Espirito Santos who revealed that the player picked up a knock during the recent African Cup of Nations.

Aina, 27, emerged as one of the outstanding defenders in the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations tournament, playing as both a right and left back. However, his performance in the final was suspect, especially near the end where he was beaten near the by-line and allowed his man to whip in a cross for Ivory Coast's winning goal.

Shedding some light on what went wrong, Mr Santos revealed that Aina sustained an injury during the Nations Cup semi-final clash against South Africa, which impacted his performance in the final against Ivory Coast. He pointed out that Aina is still nursing that injury, so will not be playing today when Forest travel to Villa Park.

Mr Santos revealed that Aina is one of three Forest players, alongside Ivorians Ibrahim Sangare and Wily Boly, who will be unavailable for today's match due to injury. Despite his struggles in the final, Aina was recognised as one of the standout players in at the African Cup of Nations, earning accolades as the best right back in the tournament’s best team.

“Ola got injured in the semi-final and played the final with an injury. He tried but didn’t really play in the final. Ibrahim, the same, he was struggling since he was there at the Nations Cup, so the three of them - Ola, Willy, Ibrahim - are not available for this match, which is bad for us. We don’t have a date for their return."

Despite missing a penalty during the match against South Africa, Aina was spared criticism by the Nigerian football community, as Kelechi Iheanacho’s final kick secured their spot in the final. However, fans expressed disappointment with the Nottingham Forest defender’s performance in the final showdown against Ivory Coast, unaware of his injury.

Forest are currently sitting 16th in the 20-team English Premier League table and desperately need all their players fit to help first off relegation. Nottingham Forest had six players away at the African Cup of Nations, including the Senegalese duo Moussa Niakhaté and Cheikhou Kouyaté, Aina and the Ivorian trio Sangare, Boly and Serge Aurier.