Nottingham Forest vs Newcastle referee confirmed and Nuno Espirito Santo won’t be happy

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Nottingham Forest have had a love-hate relationship with referees since returning to the Premier League.

It does feel as though every week there are errors made by match officials and high-profile ones at that.

Nuno Espirito Santo has just finished a three-match ban for his behaviour after a Morgan Gibbs-White red card against Brighton.

Forest have won all three of their games with Espirito Santo in the stands and are up to third place in the Premier League.

Gary Lineker has raved about Forest this week and the Reds now have Newcastle to play before another international break.

Forest will go into every match full of confidence at the moment but there might have just been a spanner thrown in the works ahead of Sunday’s game.

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Referee announced for Nottingham Forest vs Newcastle

Well, this is pretty disastrous news for Forest.

Anthony Taylor – the fourth man when Forest played Brighton last month – is the man tasked with overseeing things on Sunday.

It was Taylor’s involvement as the fourth man that led to Gibbs-White being sent off for a second yellow card after Rob Jones initially signalled the ball had been played.

The aftermath saw Espirito Santo and Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler also sent off for their part in the incident.

Taylor has endured a number of spats with Forest players and management and this feels like a bizarre appointment by the PGMOL.

Nottingham Forest record in Premier League matches with Anthony Taylor refereeing

Since the Reds returned to the Premier League, Taylor has refereed Forest on eight occasions, with just one of those ending in a win.

Those three points came in May 2023 when Forest beat Arsenal 1-0 to ensure Premier League survival in the penultimate weekend of the season.

Forest have lost six times when Taylor has reffed in the Premier League with one game ending in a draw.

He was last in charge for the calamitous game at Goodison Park last April when Everton won 2-0 and Forest were denied arguably three penalties.

Intriguingly, he also reffed the Forest vs Newcastle match at the City Ground last season when Taiwo Awoniyi was denied a stonewall penalty.

If anything could dampen Forest spirits then appointing Taylor to Sunday’s game has hit the spot.

Now, Forest will be hoping to take care of business and ensure that Taylor doesn’t get his usual wish of making things all about himself.