Crystal Palace will now be supremely confident about surviving relegation after a rival suffered a real blow on Monday.
While Crystal Palace haven’t looked likely to be relegated since Roy Hodgson‘s exit, they’ll still take all the help possible.
On Monday, this help was provided by the Premier League themselves as relegation rivals turned non-rivals Nottingham Forest were handed a four-point deduction.
This was due to a ‘significant’ breach which saw them exceed the £61m of permissible losses threshold by a whoppingly precise £34,536,000, as The Athletic explain.
This deduction leaves Forest sitting inside the relegation zone and looking to be locked in a head-to-head battle against Luton and potentially Everton.
Why Nottingham Forest’s deduction benefits Crystal Palace
With the deduction, Palace now sit comfortably eight points above Forest which is huge for the chances of survival.
Along with Forest, Luton is seven points behind which should have Palace a little out of reach for both with the likes of Everton and Brentford between the Eagles and the relegation zone.
Both have also played an extra game which gives Palace the chance to put relegation fears to bed by beating Forest in two weeks.
Facing Forest at the City ground could define the season, with Palace potentially moving 11 points above the drop, with a game in hand which would be huge and likely see Oliver Glasner consider it job done with just nine games remaining.
Forest’s deduction will affect the performance vs Palace in one of two ways
The points deduction will change the club’s mentality heading into the game against the Eagles in one of two ways.
Forest could take it as a burden as we saw Everton do initially after their deduction, losing 3-0 at home to Manchester United before bouncing back afterwards.
On the other hand, a deduction could inspire Nuno Espirito Santo’s side and see them come out of the gates fast against Palace.
Either way though, after three weeks off and with Glasner having time on the training ground to implement his plan, we expect Palace to win this game.
