Nottingham Forest achieved remarkable feat in 1998/99, now they must prevent Leicester doing the same

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The 1998/99 season was not a great one for Nottingham Forest.

After winning two of their first three Premier League games, the Reds failed to win any of their next 19, a run that saw manager Dave Bassett replaced with Ron Atkinson.

Unfortunately, that change did little to turn Forest’s fortunes around.

However, it did lead to a remarkable streak at the end of the season, which rivals Leicester City now have the opportunity to match.

Nottingham Forest won their last three games of the 1998/99 season despite having already been relegated

Sitting on 21 points after 35 games in the 1998/99 campaign having picked up just four wins in that time, Forest’s relegation to the second tier of English football had already been confirmed.

Yet remarkably, the Reds managed to win their final three games of the season.

One of these came against East Midlands rivals Leicester on the final day, a Christopher Bart-Williams strike securing a 1-0 win at the City Ground.

It was a remarkable streak considering the results and performances that had come before.

Now heading into the final three games of the current top flight campaign, there are parallels to Leicester’s predicament.

The Foxes currently sit on the same number of points (21) after the same number of games (35), having also already been relegated to the Championship.

Leicester also play Nottingham Forest next, meaning they have the chance to beat their rivals in the same way Forest beat them in 1999.

With Nuno Espirito Santo’s side still chasing Champions League qualification, Forest cannot allow that to happen if they are to finish in the top five.

Comparing Nottingham Forest’s last three fixtures in 1998/99 to Leicester’s final three this season

As well as the win against Leicester, Nottingham Forest also beat Blackburn 2-1 at Ewood Park and Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 at home in their other two fixtures at the end of the 1998/99 season.

With Leicester finishing 10^th that year, and Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn ending the campaign in 12^th and 19^th, respectively, the average position of the Reds’ final three opponents was 14^th.

By contrast, with Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester travelling to fifth-placed Forest and eighth-placed Bournemouth, as well as welcoming 18^th-placed Ipswich to the King Power Stadium, the average position of their last three opponents is 10^th.

This should make it harder for the current Foxes side to repeat what Atkinson’s Forest did at the end of the 1999 campaign.

Indeed, if Espirito Santo’s side get the better of their opponents on Sunday, any chance of a repeat will be immediately extinguished.