Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo says points deduction uncertainty is harming squad

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo watches his team play — Nuno Espirito Santo has called the situation at the bottom of the table "a mess"

Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo says the uncertainty over Nottingham Forest's Premier League fate is having a detrimental impact on his players.

Forest have appealed against a four-point deduction for breaching profit and sustainability rules.

A hearing is set for 24 April.

The club are a point above the Premier League relegation zone before Sunday's trip to fellow strugglers Everton, but will drop into the bottom three if Luton beat Brentford on Saturday.

There will be no immediate decision following Wednesday's appeal - meaning Forest will need to wait for a final resolution - and Nuno says it is taking its toll on his squad.

He said: "When you are playing the season and you get this issue things become much harder because of the uncertainty, how it disturbs the whole harmony of the squad.

"We don't know how many points we have because we still have an appeal. Maybe we get the four points back and everything changes.

"This becomes a problem, because you are working with something you can't control."

Forest were given a four-point deduction in March after an independent commission found their losses to 2022-23 breached the PSR threshold of £61m by £34.5m.

They were set to be issued with a six-point deduction - three points for the initial breach and a further three for the size of the breach - but their "early plea" and "co-operation" meant that was reduced to four points.

"Of course [it is being spoken about at the training ground]. It's a point of distraction. It's continuous, as every day there is something out - maybe we get the points back, maybe they take some. All these things are what causes the problem," Nuno added.

Premier League clubs can lose £105m over three seasons - £35m per campaign - but Forest's maximum loss was only permitted to be £61m because they spent two years of the assessment period in the Championship.

Wednesday's appeal will be heard by an independent commission, with a timeframe for the decision unknown.

Everton are a point ahead of Forest having already been deducted 10 points, reduced to six on appeal, and are appealing against a two-point penalty they were handed this month for a second PSR breach.

Nuno added: "We are in similar situations. It's very hard to manage this noise around you, this uncertainty you have. Us and Everton have been dealing with the same issues."