Arsenal loanee Nuno Tavares seems to have been given a second chance at Nottingham Forest under new boss Nuno Espirito Santo, returning to their squad on Saturday.

Nuno Tavares appeared destined for a January recall by Arsenal before this weekend, after dropping out of the Nottingham Forest squad completely, despite being fit to continue featuring in training.

But Forest’s change of manager may have given Tavares a second chance at his loan club.

Earlier this week, Forest confirmed that Portuguese manager Nuno Espirito Santo would be taking over from Steve Cooper. Days later, Tavares made his first appearance in a Premier League squad for seven games.

Tavares played in Forest’s first three games following his move, but he then picked up an injury forcing him out of action for a few games.

The left-back returned to fitness and to the bench against Liverpool in late October, and he was on the bench again at home to Aston Villa the following week, but he didn’t come on in either fixture.

After that, Tavares disappeared from the squad completely.

This time, there were no reports to suggest Tavares was injured, and he continued to feature in training for his loan side the entire time he was absent from matches.

After missing out on Forest’s defeat to West Ham, there were some signs that Tavares was unhappy, deleting his profile picture from his Instagram account, then deleting his account completely.

Tavares didn’t come on in Forest’s defeat to Bournemouth, and it’s now been three months since he played a minute on the pitch. But he’s taken the first step on the way back.