Premier League side handed points deduction following breach of sustainability and profit rules

Nottingham Forest have just been handed a four-point deduction for breaching the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules. They are now in the relegation zone, one point from safety.

Nuno Espirito Santo's side are now the second top-flight side to have been penalised for breaching PSR with Everton losing ten (reduced to six) points earlier this season. The deduction - which Forest are likely appeal - follows the hearings which took place on 7 and 9 March.

Forest admitted to the breaches but claimed in their defence that it was to do with extenuating circumstances relating to the sale of now Tottenham Hotspur star Brennan Johnson. The club initially received a £30 million offer from Brentford in the early weeks of last summer's transfer window.

The forward was, however, reluctant to move and Forest felt they could receive more for their prized possession if they waited beyond the 30th June PSR deadline. The Welshman was then sold for £47.5m to Spurs in September. An independent panel did not accept this defence.

The money that was earned from selling academy product Johnson went down as a profit but the club argued that their approach was designed to make them more sustainable - an approach that was also deemed unacceptable by the panel.

Premier League clubs are permitted to lose £105m over a three-year period but Forest's allowed losses were only meant to be £61m as they spent two of the three years as a Championship side. Since promotion, Forest have signed 42 players at a cost of around £250 million which has helped them to retain their place in the Premier League.

Their position, however, is now in grave danger. The club sit on 21 points behind Luton Town's 22. They join Burnley and Sheffield United in the bottom three with just eight fixtures left of the 2023/24 season to go. The side will face Crystal Palace next weekend at home before a run of fixtures that includes facing former Forest star 22-year-old Johnson's Spurs on Monday 8 April.