Nottingham Forest have a love-hate relationship with referees this season. Now the club has discovered who will oversee their fixture against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The Reds have had a number of high-profile decisions go against them in recent weeks. Frankly, it’s getting beyond a joke and the club has appointed Mark Clattenburg to provide reports on match officials.
Forest take on the Eagles knowing that a win is a must if they’re to gain some momentum and start to climb the table. A recent four-point deduction has seen the Reds drop into the relegation zone a point behind Luton.
WithForest fans incensed at recent decisions involving the club, there is always intrigue when it comes to match officials being appointed – and now we know who will be in charge this weekend.
Referee appointed for Nottingham Forest clash with Crystal Palace
Well, it would appear as though the Premier League have identified this as a big game. As a result, they’ve put Chris Kavanagh in charge of this Forest fixture and he’s enjoying a positive season.
The Greater Manchester native was last in charge of a Forest match when the Reds were beaten 1-0 by Manchester United in the FA Cup – a game in which he gave United a soft free kick late on and they subsequently scored from.
Still, the 38-year-old is one of the top officials in the country and is up there with the likes of Michael Oliver. This season alone he’s overseen 15 matches in the Premier League, two of which have involved Forest.
He missed five yellow cards as Forest were beaten 3-0 by Liverpool in October. Kavanagh was then the man in the middle on Boxing Day when Forest defeated Newcastle 3-1 at St James’ Park.
The referee is performing so well this season that he was actually appointed to referee the Carabao Cup Final involving Liverpool and Chelsea back in February.
Forest can’t worry about Chris Kavanagh this weekend
Although Forest have had some rotten luck involving decisions this season, the talking and whinging has to stop. It’s time that the team put on a show for a change instead of wondering what might have been.
The Forest team has plenty of quality within it and the results have been underwhelming, to say the least. That is something for Nuno Espirito Santo to solve and hopefully, he can get a good result this weekend.
Kavanagh will have his own ambitions to meet before the season is out. However, they have nothing to do with Forest and they must make sure they take care of their own business when Palace arrive on Trentside.
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