Nuno Espirito Santo tipped to leave Nottingham Forest after astonishing admission over Evangelos Marinakis relationship

Evangelos Marinakis and Nuno Espirito Santa have a spirited discussion on the pitch at the City Ground.

Nottingham Forest enjoyed an expectedly excellent season last season and started the new Premier League campaign in impressive style.

But the future of manager Nuno Espirito Santo, ranked at no.17 in FourFourTwo's list of the best managers in the world right now, has been thrown into doubt by a startling press conference in which he opened up about how his relationship with club owner Evangelos Marinakis has changed over the summer.

The Brazilian led Forest to European qualification last season, having led the club away from a relegation battle the previous term.

Bookies make Nuno Espirito Santo odds-on favourite as first Premier League manager to go

Nuno Espirito Santo has taken Nottingham Forest from relegation battlers to European competitors (Image credit: Getty Images)

Nuno was however, outspoken about his unhappiness with Forest's transfer business last week, and he admitted at his Friday press conference that he was 'not as close' with Marinakis as he felt last season.

As BBC Sport reports, Nuno said: "I always had a very good relationship with the owner. Last season, we were very close and spoke on a daily basis.

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has a fierce reputation as a chairman (Image credit: Getty Images)

"This season it is not so well but I always believe that dialogue is important because my concern is the squad and the season we have ahead of us. Our relationship has changed and we are not as close.

"It is not good. I think everybody at the club should be together but this is not the reality."

He added: "We have doubts, who is going to be [here], when are [new signings] going to come? All these things create doubts, not only me but in the club.

"What we want is game-by-game to have as many options as possible. Europe will come after, and for sure it will be better, but for now, until that happens, it is a major concern."

Nottingham Forest exceeded all expectations last season (Image credit: Alamy)

That has prompted bookies to slash the odds on Nuno being the first Premier League manager to leave his job this season.

William Hill have installed Nuno at 8/11, replacing under-fire West Ham United boss Graham Potter as the most likely boss to go first in their estimation. New Brentford boss Keith Andrews is at 11/2 after stepping up to replace Thomas Frank in the summer.

The rest of the field are a long way behind, with Burnley boss Scott Parker the next on the list at 11/1.

Forest will visit Crystal Palace in the second game of the new Premier League campaign on Sunday.