The chances of Nottingham Forest escaping relegation from the Premier League have taken a massive blow after the club were docked four points for financial irregularities, giving the likes of Luton Town and Everton added impetus in their fight to avoid the drop.
The points deduction comes off the back of a report from an independent commission that found that their losses broke Premier League rules. The team were allowed to incur losses of £61m for the 2022/23 but went over that sum by £34.5m, hence their penalty.
Football fans who feel that Forest could still avoid the drop to the EFL Championship may want to back the City Ground side with a wager, in which case this DraftKings promo code will make any such better, almost risk-free. The loss of four points sees the team move into 18th place, just into the drop zone but just one point off safety, with Luton on 22 points and Everton a further three points clear on 25 points.
The club released a statement following the punishments, stating,
“After months of engagement with the Premier League, and exceptional cooperation throughout, this was unexpected and has harmed the trust and confidence we had in the Premier League.”
Premier League teams are allowed to lose a maximum of £105m over a three-season period, though Forest were only allowed to hit a ceiling of £61m on account of being in the Championship for two of those campaigns.
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The club plans on appealing against the decision but the appeals process won’t start until after the season finishes, which presents some real problems in terms of the Premier League as a whole. Last season, Steve Cooper steered the club to safety as they lost just one of their final six games to finish in 16th place, with that run including a fine draw at Chelsea and a home win over Arsenal, which effectively ended the North London side’s title hopes.
Steve Cooper was sacked just before Christmas with Nottingham Forest, with the team in 17th position. He was replaced by former Wolves and Tottenham boss Nuno Santo, who led to two wins from his first three games but has since struggled to get the team pushing in the right direction.
They have collected just one point from their last four games and will return from the international break with three home matches in their next four, with a big clash against Crystal Palace potentially proving pivotal.
Everton were hit with a ten-point penalty earlier in the season but had that downgraded to six points. The Toffees could yet still be hit with another points penalty so there is still all to play for.
The bottom two, Sheffield United and Burnley, seem unlikely to avoid relegation, but the last remaining side to drop down a division could still entail teams like Brentford and Crystal Palace. With most teams still having nine or ten games left to play, a lot could still happen between now and the end of the season, albeit Nuno Santo now has something of a mountain to climb.
