Nottingham Forest are going to be back in action on home soil this weekend when Ipswich Town travel to the East Midlands.
Nuno Espirito Santo has some big decisions to make ahead of the weekend.
For the first time during 2024/25, Forest were well beaten at Arsenal and it was a performance that offered a horrid reminder of the previous two seasons.
Forest have endured some rotten referee mistakes this season, with the club heavily fined after a game against Chelsea.
Furthermore, Espirito Santo has served a three-match touchline ban for abusing Anthony Taylor during a 2-2 draw with Brighton.
Ahead of the weekend’s game, the referee has been announced and it’s a somewhat unfamiliar face.
Referee announced for Nottingham Forest vs Ipswich
The man in the middle for this City Ground clash will be Cleveland-based Tony Harrington.
He’s a relatively new referee when it comes to the Premier League and earlier this season he was involved in some controversy as Manchester City played Southampton.
During that game, he showed four yellow cards, with Russell Martin bashing the decision to book Flynn Downes which subsequently led to a ban.
Harrington has refereed six games in the Premier League this season, showing 20 cards and awarding two penalty kicks.
The referee who has come through the EFL ranks took charge of the Blackburn vs Burnley local derby in the Championship this season and showed 10 yellows and one red during that fixture.
Tony Harrington record during Forest games
The referee will take charge of Forest for the second time in the Premier League this weekend.
His first game was the Chelsea fixture last May when the Reds lost 3-2 to ensure some nerves were still jangling going into the final day of the season.
| Season | Fixture | Cards |
| 2023/24 | Forest 2-3 Chelsea | 2 |
| 2020/21 | Coventry 1-2 Forest | 4 |
| 2020/21 | Forest 0-1 Swansea | 4 |
| 2020/21 | Forest 1-1 Derby | 2 |
| 2019/20 | Forest 3-1 Luton | 0 |
| 2019/20 | Forest 3-0 Birmingham | 0 |
| 2018/19 | Millwall 1-0 Forest | 2 |
| 2018/19 | Forest 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday | 2 |
| 2017/18 | Forest 1-0 Norwich | 1 |
| 2017/18 | Barnsley 2-1 Forest | 1 |
| 2016/17 | Leeds 2-0 Forest | 0 |
| 2016/17 | Forest 1-1 Preston | 2 |
| 2015/16 | Preston 1-0 Forest | 1 |
| 2014/15 | Forest 2-0 Blackpool | 1 |
Forest can’t really grumble too much with this appointment and the Reds don’t have a bad record when he’s taken charge of the club’s matches.
Harrington will welcome another crack at a Premier League game and hopefully, nobody is talking about his performance after the game.
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