Automatic promotion is out of reach for Nottingham Forest this season, according to Lee Hendrie.
The Reds have 10 games of their Sky Bet Championship season left and are only eight points behind Leeds United, in second place.
Forest can close that gap to five and potentially climb to third when they welcome Millwall to the City Ground tonight (Friday).
West Bromwich Albion are a point ahead of Leeds going into the weekend fixtures, with Fulham the nearest challengers currently to the top two.
It has been an excellent season for the Reds, who have stormed up the table in Sabri Lamouchi’s first season in charge.
But Hendrie, the former Aston Villa midfielder, believes automatic promotion is a step too far this season.
“If I’m honest I think it’s play-offs, I think they’ve just dropped off the pace a little bit which has just been disappointing for Nottingham Forest because you know they’ve sort of been there or thereabouts for a few seasons really,” Hendrie told Football League World.
“And if you have that blip in form, if you’re gonna be maintaining that form to win promotion you’ve got to be winning games and even the game in midweek against Middlesbrough, that’s a game that if you’re going to be pushing for the top two, you’ve gotta be going to Boro and going to get a win.
“Lamouchi wasn’t entirely happy with the way it was, and that’s the problem, there’s still plenty of games to go but I do feel the top two are just slowly picking up their form and drifting away again.”
