Taiwo Awoniyi was again left out of the squad by Nottingham Forest for a 1-1 home draw with Aston Villa at the weekend with his manager having to explain his decision.
Forest boss Vitor Pereira said his team selection was mainly based on having a balance in the squad.
“When you prepare for a game, you decide your squad, you think about the problems you might have,” he said.
“If I have a problem with my striker (Igor), I have Chris Wood on the bench. If I want to play with two strikers, Igor didn’t play 90 minutes inthe last game and is in condition to play, so if you want to play with both, I can play with both.
“I need to have solutions for the wingers, I need solutions for the midfielders.
“I was not about Taiwo or about Lucca, it was about the balance of the list.”
Awoniyi is not on the Europa League squad and so he will have to wait until Sunday now to see whether he will be on the squad for home game against Burnley.
