Nottingham Forest face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday in what could be a very feisty clash.
The Eagles have reason to be annoyed at the Reds after Evangelos Marinakis allegedly complained to UEFA and eventually managed to push Nottingham Forest into the Europa League at the expense of Crystal Palace – who drop into the Conference League.
Nottingham Forest fans have even made a chant about the situation – which also aims a dig at Tottenham.
While Nuno Espirito Santo will be confident after a 3-1 win over Brentford on Sunday, the Premier League selecting Anthony Taylor to officiate this game could irk him.
Nottingham Forest have history with Anthony Taylor
Remember that tweet from Nottingham Forest in the 2023/24 campaign?
Nottingham Forest were outraged after Taylor failed to award them at least one penalty during a Premier League defeat against Everton at Goodison Park in April 2024 – at a time where both the Reds and the Toffees were fighting relegation alongside Luton.
In a post which later landed Nottingham Forest a £750,000 fine, the Reds took aim at Taylor and Stuart Attwell – on VAR duty that day – writing: “Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept.
“We warned the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.”
Nottingham Forest later deleted the post.
As Nottingham Forest News covered last season, fans were also unhappy with Taylor during a 3-2 win over Southampton, with one supporter calling him “one of the worst officials in world sport” after the game amid a string of errors.
Nuno Espirito Santo could be helped out by his old side Tottenham
Taylor being involved might irk Nottingham Forest, but Spurs could help to make Sunday’s game a little easier for Nuno.
Fabrizio Romano believes Eberechi Eze is close to joining Tottenham and a deal could materialise before Sunday – a move which would obviously rob Oliver Glasner of one of his best players.
Of course, Crystal Palace have other talents who can hurt Nottingham Forest, but losing the England international surely increases their chances of a loss to the Reds.