Forest player-manager Pearce is banned, so Gemmill is likely to return with Phillips moving to left- back.Leeds v PortsmouthBowyer (ankle) faces a late fitness test for Leeds. Portsmouth's Swedish striker Svensson also has a test on an arm injury. Whitbread is available following a knee injury.Man City v MiddlesbroFor City, Brightwell, Beagrie and McGoldrick are all fit. Middlesbrough will be without the suspended Emerson, while Moore has a test on an ankle injury. Goalkeeper Miller has been recalled from a loan spell with Grimsby.Wimbledon v QPRHoldsworth is set to retain his place for the Dons. Rangers will be without the suspended Impey and Maddix, but Spencer is expected to shake off an ankle injury to lead the front line.TOMORROWBradford C v Sheff WedBradford manager Kamara has a full squad to choose from as City are are free of injury and suspension.

In contrast, Wednesday have injury worries over Pembridge (back), Hyde (thigh), Nolan and Blinker (both knee) all doubtful. Trustfull is out (medial ligaments).Leicester v ChelseaLeicester have Izzet, Lennon, Heskey and Elliott suspended, Whitlow, Hill and Kamark are all out injured, while Lawrence, Taylor and Walsh are struggling for full fitness. Vialli is likely to be left kicking his heels on the Chelsea bench again.PREMIERSHIPTODAYDerby v West HamDerby's Croat defender Stimac makes his first appearance of 1997, having recovered from a hernia operation. However, Laursen (calf), Willems (hamstring) and Carbon (groin) are all out, while Darryl Powell starts a three-match ban. Dailly returns from suspension and Ward has recovered from ankle and shin injuries. Strikers Hartson and Kitson both make their West Ham debuts, while Dowie is expected to be on the bench after recovering from a fractured ankle which has kept him out for two months. Bilic is suspended, Moncur has a knee injury and Porfirio is hoping to shake off a hamstring problem.Tottenham v ArsenalSpurs striker Iversen should be fit after a recent groin injury, while Anderton could make his first start for seven weeks after knee trouble.

Dozzell has also recovered from a calf injury and is in a 17-man squad along with Calderwood, who has completed a two-match ban. He replaces Nethercott, who misses out because of his own one-match suspension. Adams could play for Arsenal despite an ankle injury, although keeper Seaman is definitely out with a small tear in a knee ligament, as is Platt, who is still struggling with a hamstring problem Bergkamp returns from his three-match suspension.. Waiting for my daughter's birth is like waiting for a Scotland goal - eagerly anticipated, but anybody's guess when it's going to happen. And she might one day have to choose if she wants to pledge her future to Scotland or England since she has a Scottish dad and English mum It's unlikely ever to become an issue. However, this matter of nationality does seem to be growing increasingly blurred around the edges.

One wonders, for example, how Andy Caddick feels as he bowls for England in his former home town of Christchurch; whether Matt Le Tissier wishes he'd chosen to personify Gallic flair rather than English graft; whether one-time England schoolboy Ryan Giggs, who pulled out of yet another Wales friendly this week, regrets choosing the Welsh dragon above the English lion; whether Mark Crossley, erstwhile pretender to Scotland's goalkeeping jersey who made his debut for Wales this week, is suffering an identity crisis; and whether Neil Sullivan, that sarf London geezer who was called up by Craig Brown against Estonia, really feels as Scottish as he says he does? Sullivan's case is the most disturbing. The Wimbledon keeper may not be (as he's admitted) "your haggis-eating, kilt-wearing Bonnie Prince Charlie" but no matter, this is after all the caring Nineties when we can even accept dear old Vinnie playing for Wales, so it'd be wrong to deny Sullivan his chance.The worrying thing is that Scotland seem to be following the lead of the Irish and the Welsh in searching for players with tenuous links to the motherland or, in this case, the grandmother land.It was significant that in the week Sullivan got the nod, Bolton pulled out of a deal with Aberdeen for Scott Booth. A few years ago Booth and Eoin Jess were considered Scotland's brightest young stars. Jess has hardly set the heather alight since he came south to Coventry, and now Booth finds himself rejected by a First Division club.It was also significant that last Saturday Gordon Durie became the first Scot to score for Rangers this year. It was only five years ago that Leeds were beaten in the European Cup by a Rangers side with a backbone of Scots.Yet European players now form the nucleus of both Rangers and Celtic. Where once they would have bought Scottish, they now look to Europe, while the best that Scotland has to offer - players such as Paul Lambert and Allan Johnston - move abroad.Compared to the Seventies and early Eighties, few venture over Hadrian's Wall. Then, the top sides seemed to be brimming with influential Jocks: Law, Strachan, Buchan and Macari at Manchester United; Lorimer, Jordan and the Grays at Leeds and Dalglish, Hansen, Souness, and Nicol at Liverpool.I can think of only four Scottish players who play currently a pivotal role in their English sides: Hendry (Blackburn), McAllister (Coventry), Ferguson (Everton) and McGinlay (Bolton).