Nottingham Forest suffered another defeat to fellow relegation-threatened Everton on Saturday at Goodison Park. Thankfully for Forest, Luton Town suffered a similar fate the day before as they lost to Brentford. As a result, the Nottingham-based club sit 17th in the Premier League table and a point adrift from the relegation spot.
Forest has had a whirlwind of a campaign. They had to part ways with manager Steve Cooper earlier this year and brought on Nuno Espirito Santo in hopes of turning the results around.
While the results did improve a bit, a 4-point deduction then hit them because of not complying with the Premier League Profitability and Sustainability rules (PSR). This saw them very much engaged in the relegation battle and the only reason they aren’t in the foreboding relegation spots is because their rivals have failed to pick up wins.
With that said, Santo’s motto for the last month or so has been to control the controllable. And that is performing better and picking up points. Something that has been hard to come by as they have won just one of their last eight Premier League games. However, spirited performances sprinkled amidst this run and such performances are the need of the hour for Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham Forest’s Remaining Fixtures
Forest’s remaining fixtures are a mixed bag. They have two games against the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea. The former is vying for the title and is unarguably the best team in the land. The latter is making a late push for European spots. Picking up points against these two seems to be incredulous. While they did beat Chelsea earlier in the season, that was a long time ago and Chelsea are a far better side under Mauricio Pochettino now.
The other two games are what will decide Nottingham Forest’s fate for next season. These two games are against relegation rivals – Sheffield United first, and Burnley on the last day of the season. Forest has six days to prepare for the game against Sheffield United following the Manchester City clash. While this is an away game. There is absolutely no excuse for not picking up the maximum points from this game and boosting their goal difference. United are bottom of the table and have resigned to the fact that they are going to be relegated.
The clash against Burnley, on the other hand, is at home on the final day of the season. Luton Town could very well survive the drop by then as they are finishing their season by playing against teams like Wolverhampton Wanders, Fulham, and West Ham. Those three teams are fighting for nothing.
This game could be anti-climactic as well as Burnley have the toughest remaining fixtures as they battle against Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Newcastle United. Burnley could very well be relegated at that point as all three teams vie for the last European spot.
Will Forest Survive the Drop?
With just four games left in the season, Forest must pick up points and fast. Not because of just Luton Town but now also because of Burnley. Luton Town is just a point below them, as aforementioned, and Burnley are just 3 points adrift.
This means one bad result for Forest and a good result for the other two sides should be enough to relegate the Reds to the Championship. The clock is ticking for Nuno Espirito Santo and Co. Control the controllable might be the adage to follow but now is the time to walk the talk.
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