- Nottingham Forest’s opening day fixture with Brentford has been rescheduled
- The move comes a mere six days after next season’s fixtures were released
- LISTEN to Whistleblowers: Are Arsenal fans right to think they’ve been aggrieved by the fixtures?
Nottingham Forest’s Premier League opening day clash with Brentford has already been rescheduled just six days after the league’s fixtures were released.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were originally set to welcome the Bees on Saturday August 16.
But the encounter has been pushed back a day to avoid it coinciding with The Hundred which is taking place at Trent Bridge.
The stadium, home to the Trent Rockets, is located just 200m away from the City Ground and the game is being pushed back to avoid overcrowding in the city centre.
The fixture will be one of three games played on Sunday on the opening weekend and will take place at 2pm.
It will be televised on Sky Sports alongside Chelsea v Crystal Palace and Manchester United v Arsenal.
It means only three Premier League fixtures, Brighton v Fulham, Sunderland v West Ham and Tottenham v Burnley, will kick off at the traditional Saturday 3pm slot.
Liverpool host Bournemouth on the Friday night, with Aston Villa taking on Newcastle at Saturday lunchtime.
While Man City travel to Wolves at 5:30pm on Saturday, with newly-promoted Leeds hosting Everton on Monday evening.
Brentford came out 2-0 winners when they visited Forest last season, with goals from Kevin Schade and Yoane Wissa either side of half-time securing three points for west Londoners.
Brentford are still yet to appoint a new manager after Thomas Frank left to join Spurs.
Their set-piece coach Keith Andrews is now viewed as the frontrunner to take over at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Meanwhile, Forest will compete in the Europa Conference League next season after finishing in seventh in the league last season.
The Premier League is supposed to provide fans with at least six weeks’ notice for any fixture changes.
But they have been forced to issue a warning to supporters that games could be changed at ‘relatively short notice’ in the upcoming campaign due to a record number of teams competing in Europe.
Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Newcastle and Spurs will play in the Champions League next season.
While Aston Villa and Crystal Palace have qualified for the Europa League.
‘While the Premier League celebrates this success, it will come with an impact on the scheduling of league matches,’ a statement from the Premier League said.
‘There is an increased likelihood of Premier League fixtures moving at relatively short notice, after our fixture announcements, should our clubs progress to the knockout rounds of these competitions.’
