Danny Welbeck has been ruled out for Saturday's match against Nottingham Forest after suffering a reaction to his knee injury, with manager Darren Ferguson still unsure on the extent of the injury.

Speaking to the press ahead of Saturday's game, Ferguson revealed that the striker is out and will be having a scan on his swollen knee on Monday.

"Danny is out; he's had a reaction to his knee again so we can forget about Danny." Ferguson said. "He trained again yesterday but it has swollen up again, so Welbeck will be out.

"The way it is looking at the moment, he will probably be going back there [Manchester United], he's going to have another scan on Monday but it is not looking good.

"It's a blow but we have to get on with it, I say time and time again that it is a squad game. It is a blow for the lad as well because he was really enjoying it here, he was at the game on Tuesday and the lads were pleased to see him.

"He was looking bubbly and raring to come back but unfortunately there has been a reaction to it so he won't be available Saturday."

This latest setback means that Ferguson will have three strikers to pick from on Saturday and the Preston manager believes that the extent of Welbeck's injury will become apparent on Monday.

"We are down to three now because Sleeves [Stephen Elliott] has gone to Norwich. We wish the lad all the best because we don't want it to be a really serious injury, hopefully if the scan shows on Monday that there is no operation needed then there is a possibility that he will come back, but I'm not overly optimistic about it.

"I'm not panicking about it, Neil [Mellor] scored the other night and Parky [Jon Parkin] has been in good form."

More positive news for Preston is the return to training of winger Ross Wallace. Wallace sat out of Tuesday's match after hobbling off against Plymouth last Saturday. Wallace is due to train again on Friday but Ferguson is still sweating on the fitness of Tom Williams who came off in the first against Doncaster.

"He's very sore this morning Tom, we sent him for an x-ray as a precaution yesterday but there is no break it is just a really bad strain in his ankle. We'll have to see how he is tomorrow.

"He's not been ruled out, the advantage is that we have Callum [Davidson] back fit and he came on and did very well. If Tom is not fit then I have Callum, if he is fit then I will have to make a decision there as well. If the game was this afternoon then he wouldn't play but we have got another 48 hours so we will see how he is."