Pre-match thoughts: Noah Okafor

Noah Okafor made an impact off the bench in Saturday’s Premier League opener against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground and now, at the same venue, starts in this evening’s EFL Cup Round Two tie.

Ahead of kick-off in the East Midlands, the Swiss international did his media duties on arrival at the stadium and is hoping for similar from the team this time around.

“It was a great game for us and we were really happy about the three points on Saturday. So today is a new game and we are really excited for this. We are just ready and looking forward to it.

“But I think, yeah, we have a good energy, a good atmosphere in the team and we are really good together. We had a good pre-season.

“So we just try to keep going every day and work hard. And we are looking forward game by game. I think that is the main topic.

“The cup competition is always where if you win, you go through, and you lose, you are out. We just have to be fully focused on that from the first minute on.

“We knew in a game everything can happen but I think the coach prepared us really well. So before the game, we just are ready and we try go win.”