After missing out on an automatic promotion place following their loss to Bournemouth last week, Nottingham Forest will have to settle for a place in the Championship play-offs - and that double header begins this coming weekend.

The Reds will travel to Bramall Lane on Saturday afternoon to face Sheffield United, before the return leg takes place on Tuesday evening at the City Ground on the banks of the River Trent.

After gathering a ton of momentum in 2022, both from league results and in the FA Cup, Steve Cooper's side fell at the final hurdle when they travelled to the Vitality Stadium to face the Cherries, where Kieffer Moores goal consigned them to three more matches if they want to be a Premier League club once again.

One person who never lost faith in the Tricky Trees though was David Prutton, who came through the academy system at Forest and played 168 times in all competitions for the club in his career.

Now a pundit and presenter for Sky Sports, Prutton made a prediction for every single Championship match in the 2021-22 season and if all his predictions came to fruition then Forest would have finished in second position on a mammoth 106 points.

That would have been 18 points clear of Sheffield United in third, with Prutton perhaps being quite optimistic when it came to his former side as they finished 26 points short of his estimate.

The Verdict

There may have been a hint of former club bias in Prutton's predictions when it came to Forest considering that's who he grew up with and played for in his younger days.

But when they were on that incredible run of form in the second half of the season, it was hard to go against Steve Cooper's men because of the way they were playing.

If Cooper was in charge from the very start of the season then things may have been a bit different and Forest may have wrapped up an automatic promotion place.

But it's the play-offs for them and a very tough test awaits in Sheffield United, who themselves are eyeing up a return to the top flight.