Wood returns after six months as Nottingham Forest face Porto in Europa League quarter-final first leg tonight

Wood returns after six months as Nottingham Forest face Porto in Europa League quarter-final first leg tonight

Chris Wood will return to the Nottingham Forest squad for the first time in six months against FC Porto this evening.

Forest face the Portuguese league leaders in the first leg of theirEuropa League quarter-final tonight. It's a rematch of the league phase fixture between the teams, when Forest claimed a 2-0 win over Porto at the City Ground.

Vitor Pereira's team have been boosted ahead of the trip to the Estádio do Dragão by the return of Wood to fitness. The New Zealand international has trained with the team this week and Pereira has confirmed his availability.

"He has started to train with the team. He is available for the game,"the Forest boss said at his pre-match press conference.

"He is working with us, we need to manage him a little bit physically but he has travelled. It means he is available to be in the game tomorrow.

"He is an experienced player, he scores goals and it's important to be ready for the team in this moment because we face a lot of challenges."

Wood has not featured since October due to a knee injury. The 34-year-old was Forest's leading scorer last season with 20 goals in 36Premier League