Dyche Gives Update On Ola Aina’s Fitness, Crystal Palace Coach Applauds Uche

Nottingham Forest head coach Sean Dyche has offered an encouraging update on Ola Aina’s fitness, confirming the defender is making steady strides towards a return after months on the sidelines.

Ola Aina has been out since September after suffering a hamstring injury while representing Nigeria. The setback proved significant enough to rule the 29-year-old out of contention for the Super Eagles’ 2025 Africa Cup of Nations plans and disrupted his momentum at the club level.

Aina recently turned out for Forest’s Under-21 side against Millwall as part of a carefully monitored programme aimed at restoring match sharpness.

Dyche said the defender is back training more frequently with the first team, although patience remains key after such a prolonged absence.

“Ola is halfway through his fitness progress, training more regularly with the team now, so that is good. Obviously, it’s been a long-term injury, so we have to be careful with that one,” Dyche said.

The former Chelsea player is expected to be available for Nottingham Forest early in the new year, provided there are no setbacks.

Elsewhere, Oliver Glasner could not hide his admiration for Christantus Uche after the midfielder produced a moment of magic in Crystal Palace’s 2-2 draw with Finnish side KuPS in the UEFA Europa Conference League.

The game, played at Selhurst Park on Thursday night, burst into life early when Uche opened the scoring inside five minutes.

The Nigerian international struck cleanly from outside the box, sending the home crowd into raptures and underlining his growing confidence on the European stage.

It was Uche’s second goal of the campaign in the competition and another reminder of his value to Palace during his loan spell.

Glasner praised the midfielder’s contribution while acknowledging a brief period where his side lost control of the game.

“I was pleased with the performance especially of the youngsters. Of course, fantastic goal from Uche, and then we could see we lost a little bit of structure for ten to fifteen minutes, and you get three finishes at the end and score two goals,” Glasner told TNT Sports.

Uche is currently on loan at Palace from Spanish club Getafe.