Nottingham Forest are striving to achieve promotion to the Premier League this season, and are in a decent place going into the second half of the season.
The Reds are currently in eighth place in the table with 34 points to their name from the opening 21 league matches, and have a game in hand on those sides around them.
Sabri Lamouchi’s side are going through a tough run of form, with last weekend’s 4-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday extending the Reds’ winless run to four matches.
But despite this lack of positive results, Forest will have belief that they can pick up points and climb the table over the festive period.
So could this be the year that Forest finally get promoted and return to the Premier League?
Respected statistics and analysis website FiveThirtyEight has forecast the final standings in the Sky Bet Championship this season, based on a complex model which takes into account a host of factors.
They have crunched the numbers and are predicting that Forest will finish in eighth place in the final standings, and miss out on the play-offs.
The prediction has tipped the Reds to accumulate 67 points, three points outside of the play-offs with Preston North End making up the final spot.
Sandwiched in between is Bristol City, who are tipped to accumulate one point more than Forest.
The other sides predicted to finish in the play-offs are Fulham, Brentford, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End, while West Bromwich Albion and Leeds are being tipped for automatic promotion.
The predicted table has given Forest a 7% chance of securing promotion to the Premier League, with a 27% chance of getting there via the play-offs.
It has also been predicted that Forest have a 2% chance of winning the Championship title.
Predicted table
1. Leeds United - 93 points
2. West Brom - 89 points
3. Brentford - 81 points
4. Sheffield Wednesday - 67 points
5. Fulham - 73 points
6. Preston - 70 points
7. Bristol City – 68 points
8. Nottingham Forest – 67 points
9. Cardiff City – 67 points
10. Millwall – 66 points
11. Swansea City – 66 points
12. Blackburn Rovers – 65 points
13. Hull City – 65 points
14. QPR – 63 points
15. Birmingham City – 59 points
16. Derby County – 56 points
17. Reading – 55 points
18. Huddersfield Town – 54 points
19. Stoke City – 51 points
20. Middlesbrough – 50 points
21. Charlton Athletic – 48 points
22. Wigan Athletic – 45 points
23. Luton Town – 44 points
24. Barnsley – 42 points
