Crystal Palace will now be extremely confident of avoiding relegation after a rival suffered a significant setback on Monday.
While Crystal Palace has not appeared to be in danger of relegation since Roy Hodgson’s departure, they will certainly welcome any assistance they can get.
On Monday, the Premier League gave this assistance when relegation rivals turned non-rivals Nottingham Forest were docked four points.
This was owing to a’significant’ infringement, which caused them to exceed the £61 million allowed loss level by a stunning £34,536,000, according to The Athletic.
This deduction places Forest in the relegation zone, with a head-to-head struggle against Luton and possibly Everton.
Why Nottingham Forest’s deduction helps Crystal Palace
With the deduction, Palace is now comfortably eight points ahead of Forest, which is critical for their hopes of survival.
Luton, like Forest, sits seven points behind Palace, which should put them out of reach with Everton and Brentford between them and the relegation zone.
Both have also played one additional game, giving Palace the opportunity to end relegation fears by defeating Forest in two weeks.
Facing Forest at the City Ground might define the season, with Palace potentially moving 11 points above the drop zone with a game in hand, which would be massive and likely lead to Oliver Glasner calling it a day with only nine games remaining.
Forest’s absence will impact the performance against Palace in one of two ways.
The points deduction will affect the club’s mindset going into the game against the Eagles in one of two ways.
Forest might bear the burden, like Everton did after their deduction, losing 3-0 at home to Manchester United before recovering.
On the other hand, a deduction could motivate Nuno Espirito Santo’s team to start quickly against Palace.
In any case, with three weeks off and with Glasner having time on the training ground to implement his strategy, we expect Palace to win this game.
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