It is crunch time for Nottingham Forest’s survival hopes as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side head into their final six games of the season.
The battle to beat the drop is incredibly close and has the potential to go right to the wire. However, the Reds will hope to give their chances of staying up a boost when they host Wolverhampton Wanderers at the City Ground on Saturday (3pm).
The clash with Wolves will also provide an opportunity for Forest to bounce back from Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. Ahead of this weekend’s big game, below is our round-up of the latest goings-on Trentside…
Maddison debate
The incident between Ryan Yates and James Maddison just before half-time was a big talking point. Nuno was adamant the Spurs man should have been sent off for a jab on Yates and felt it could have made a difference to how the match panned out.
Referee Simon Hooper was not even instructed to review what happened. And while ex-Reds midfielder Roy Keane disagreed with Nuno’s view, other pundits have been more sympathetic. On Match of the Day 2, Danny Murphy and Troy Deeney argued Maddison escaped punishment because of his “nice guy” image.
“I can’t defend him. It’s a simple one for me – it’s a sending off,” Murphy said. “He gives him a little dig. The reason he doesn’t get sent off is because it’s James Maddison. I think it’s an awful decision from VAR. If Troy did it, he’s off. (Cristian) Romero does it, he’s off. Certain players…
“It was a crucial part of the game and Forest have had some horrendous decisions this season. I feel for them. You do need a little bit of luck with these things going your way.”
Deeney added: “You get stereotyped, don’t you? You are the big, physical aggressor. Because Madds is a nice guy, plays a lot of darts, he gets away with it.
“James knows he’s made a mistake there and he’s got away with one. Fundamentally, he knows better than that.”
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