Nottingham Forest goalkeeper John Victor left the field in tears after injuring himself while conceding a goal in their 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday
Nottingham Forest goalkeeper John Victor was left in floods of tears after suffering an injury whilst conceding a goal against Aston Villa. The Brazilian keeper charged out of his box in a desperate bid to beat Villa midfielder John McGinn to the ball.
But the shot-stopper collapsed after McGinn rolled it into the unguarded net. At that point, Villa were leading 2-1, with Morgan Gibbs-White having pulled one back following strikes from Ollie Watkins and Scotland international McGinn either side of half-time.
The home side’s third goal left Forest facing an uphill battle in the final stages. Victor, who arrived from Botafogo during the summer transfer window, had to bide his time until December before earning his Premier League debut.
Despite Matz Sels recovering from injury, the Brazilian retained his place until being replaced by the Belgian at Villa Park on Saturday.
Forest now face an anxious wait to discover the extent of the 29 year old’s absence. Their next crucial fixture looms large, with a midweek journey to face 18th-placed West Ham.
Prior to the substitution being announced, Sky Sports co-commentator Andy Hinchcliffe slammed the Forest keeper’s error. “John Victor, what on earth are you doing,” he exclaimed, reports the Mirror.
“Stay in your area, let your defenders recover. A terrible, terrible decision that may well have cost his team the game.”
The loss left Forest with a four-point lead over West Ham before the Hammers took on Wolves, who were at the bottom of the league table, at 3pm.
Dyche expressed his belief that John Victor would recover from the incident, which he characterised as “a mix-up and mistake”.
Post-match, Forest’s goal scorer Gibbs-White spoke to Sky Sports about the potential preparations for the upcoming game. “I am sure the gaffer is going to get us working this week,” he stated.
“We will have a game-plan and we’ll aim to get three points. It’s a difficult period. We’ve got games coming up, we just need to get points on the table. You want to be clear of it. We have been in this sort of battle before. We know what it takes to get out of it.”
Following their trip to West Ham on Tuesday, Forest will kick off their FA Cup campaign with an away match at Wrexham. Last season, Forest made it to the semi-finals of the competition but were defeated by Manchester City at Wembley.