Lansbury-less Forest Prepare for Blues Test

Last updated : 10 January 2016 By Forest

Nottingham Forest host Birmingham City in the Championship on Tuesday evening, a rematch of when the two teams met at St Andrews in September, Dexter Blackstock netting the only goal of the game on that occasion.

Speaking afterwards, Blues boss Gary Rowett said: "Forest set up to frustrate us and block us out of the game. They used Henri Lansbury in front of the back four in a destructive role which I thought he played really well."

And it is skipper Lansbury who dominated Forest thoughts after Saturday's FA Cup game against Queens Park Rangers when he was stretchered off just 17 minutes after coming on as a substitute.

An x-ray has shown that there is no fracture to his ankle but the midfielder is still facing up to two months on the sidelines.

Dougie Freedman will have been pleased, then. to see Gary Gardner settle back into the Forest ranks on his second debut for the club against the R's as Jamie Ward's goal continued the Reds good recent run of form.

Oliver Burke's display was another positive on a day when Forest showed once again that they are extremely tough to break down, especially when they have their noses in front in a game.