Nottingham Forest face tough start to 2017/18 Championship season

The 2017/18 Championship fixtures have today been released and Nottingham Forest face what looks to be a tricky start. They face the likes of Leeds United, Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Aston Villa and Fulham early on.

Forest supporters will be optimistic about the upcoming campaign under the new ownership of Evangelos Marinakis following a dismal five-year period under previous owner Fawaz Al-Hasawi. It will certainly be interesting to see how they fare in comparison to last season where they avoided relegation to League One with a 3-0 final day victory against Ipswich Town at The City Ground.

An early test of credentials

Mark Warburton's side begin their season on 5 August with a home game against Millwall at The City Ground following their victorious League One play-off campaign last season. This will then be followed by another home game against Shrewsbury Town in the newly-branded Carabao Cup on 8 August.

Forest's first away game of the season will see them travel to London to take on Brentford at Griffin Park (12 August). The Reds then face three more games in August as they travel to Oakwell to face Barnsley (15 August), host newly-relegated Middlesbrough (19 August) and then host Leeds United who just missed out on the play-offs last season (26 August).

The month of September looks to be a very tough period and could be an early test of Forest's credentials. It kicks off with a trip to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday (9 September) which is always a difficult place to go. Forest will also face away games against Sunderland (12 September) and Aston Villa (23 September) during this month aswell as home games against Wolverhampton Wanderers (16 September), Fulham (26 September) and Sheffield United (30 September).

The first East Midlands Derby comes around two months earlier than last season as Forest travel to Pride Park to face bitter rivals Derby County in October (14 October). The Rams will travel to The City Ground in the reverse fixture later on in the season (10 March).

The first East Midlands Derby takes place at Pride Park in October. (picture: Getty Images / Gareth Copley)

A tasty festive period

It certainly looks to be a mouth watering festive schedule for the Reds this season. In the lead up to Christmas, Forest face away games at Ipswich Town (2 December), Bristol City (16 December) and Preston North End (23 December) aswell as a home game against Bolton Wanderers (9 December). Forest will face Sheffield Wednesday at The City Ground on Boxing Day (26 December) before also hosting Sunderland four days later (30 December). The festive period is rounded off with a trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United on New Year's Day (1 January).

The run-in towards the end of the season

The month of March includes some tough looking fixtures for the Reds and it will be interesting to see where they are in the league table come this point of the season. Forest face home games against both Birmingham City (3 March) and Derby County (10 March). However, the Reds also face three difficult away matches at Norwich City (6 March), Sheffield United (17 March) and then Millwall (31 March).

As the Reds enter the crunch period that is the month of April, the fixture list looks to have been kinder with quite a few matches against teams who finished around mid-table last season. They begin by hosting Barnsley (2 April) before a trip to Middlesbrough (7 April). Ipswich Town (14 April) and Bristol City (28 April) are both scheduled to visit The City Ground with an away game at Cardiff City (21 April) in between.

Forest travel to face Bolton Wanderers on the final day. (picture: Getty Images / Michael Steele)

Forest are due to end their season as they travel to the Macron Stadium to face Bolton Wanderers on 6 May. Will this final game be as important as it was last season? If it is, hopefully it is important for much different reasons with Forest pushing at the other end of the table.