The division is, of course, brilliant. On a weekly basis, the top teams fight it out in arguably Europe’s most competitive leagues and this season has seen the changing of the guard when it comes to competing for honours.
Forest, Aston Villa and Newcastle are in the mix for the Champions League places. Newcastle lifted a first trophy in over 50 years, whilst stereotypical big six sides Tottenham and Manchester United are closer to the relegation zone than they are to Europe.
The Premier League have made a controversial call on Forest’s match with Tottenham, but the Reds would dearly love to claim a huge victory, with several pundits starting to get the pitchforks out.
Forest have lost their last two matches in the Premier League, with Ben Foster now dismissing the Reds in their quest to make the Champions League places for next season.
It would appear that the former England goalkeeper is not the only one…
Paul Merson predicts Nottingham Forest clash with Tottenham
Merson can be added to the list of pundits who has seemingly started to question the integrity of Forest and their push towards the Champions League places.
Ahead of tomorrow’s game against Tottenham he’s delivered a bit of a damning verdict on Nuno Espirito Santo’s team and it would appear that he’s not overly convinced by Forest all of a sudden.
Merson has hailed the team at other periods of the season and it would seem as though these pundits flip-flop more often than not when it comes to their opinions on the Premier League.
The Sky Sports pundit told Sportskeeda: “Nottingham Forest are struggling a bit at the moment. I don’t think they were good in their last two defeats against Everton and Aston Villa. There’s an interesting statistic I wanted to share – in their last seven away matches away from home, Forest have just one win inside 90 minutes and that came against Ipswich!
“I just hope Forest don’t melt away from here on because they’ve had an incredible season. I strongly believe they deserve to play in Europe. Forest also have their FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City coming up later this month. Admit it, we all want them to be rewarded for what has been nothing short of a spectacular campaign.”
Merson then went on to predict a 1-1 draw and after the last two results, perhaps that wouldn’t be the worst finish in the world tomorrow night.
Robbie Earle defends Nottingham Forest
One pundit who has retained his faith in Forest is Robbie Earle, with the former Premier League player backing the Reds for a memorable season from the early stages of the season.
Earle initially picked Forest for relegation. However, after apologising for that, he’s maintained that the Reds will still get in the Champions League despite a blip in form of late.
It’s nice that one pundit still believes in this team. Ultimately, some of the stuff said about Forest had been incredibly harsh given that the Reds were always due a little blip across the entire campaign.
Espirito Santo is on the cusp of something brilliant at the City Ground. Now, with the home straight in their sights, Forest will be keen to ensure this brilliant opportunity doesn’t pass them by.
