New boss Rob Edwards felt his side’s encouraging performance against Villa on Sunday “was a step in the right direction”. Nonetheless, they are nine points from safety and eight adrift of 19th-placed Burnley at the start of the midweek round of fixtures – it is the biggest gap at the bottom in the top flight since three points for a win was introduced in 1981.
Hutchinson’s time?
Forest boast a wealth of options in wide areas after compensating for the exit of Anthony Elanga to Newcastle by signing Dan Ndoye from Bologna, Dilane Bakwa from Strasbourg and Omari Hutchinson from Ipswich, the latter for a club-record fee.
Hutchinson was omitted from Forest’s Europa League squad and he is yet to make a Premier League start for the club.
However, that is surely likely to change soon after a string of positive performances from the bench. Hutchinson caught the eye in Forest’s first league win under Sean Dyche when they beat Leeds 3-1 at the City Ground in November, assisting Morgan Gibbs-White for the second goal and winning the penalty from which Elliot Anderson converted the third.