The key fixtures which could decide Nottingham Forest's Premier League season

Nottingham Forest's return to the Premier League feels a little more real with the release of next season's fixtures today.

The Reds will be away at St James' Park against Newcastle United on the opening weekend of the 2022/23 season, set for August 6, before they will welcome West Ham United to the City Ground in what looks, on paper, a difficult opening to the season.

A trip to Everton follows that before hosting Tottenham Hotspur and travelling to the North West again on the final day of August to face champions Manchester City in the first midweek fixture of the season. After that it does get a little easier as we look at the fixtures which could decide the season.

After their tough start, Forest host Bournemouth, go to Leeds and then are at home to Fulham. If we're being honest, these are the kind of games they probably need to win the majority of to stay up. Fulham have statistically the toughest start to the season as they face Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea before they come to the City Ground.

Bournemouth will be favourites to go down, like Forest, so need to be beaten. Perhaps this time VAR will help Forest against the Cherries after they were harshly treated on the South Coast last season. Then again, we shouldn't moan about officials just yet, should we? Hopefully, Jon Moss enjoys his first weekend watching Premier League games as a fan.

Leeds stayed up on the final day last season, and although manager Jesse Marsch saw an improvement in results, they still looked fallible and could lose key men Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha this summer. Those games are in September, before the first international break, but Forest play the same trio in a row again in late January into February. With 18 points on the