Peculiar reason why Nottingham Forest's trip to Spurs has a strange kick-off time

Nottingham Forest's away Premier League clash against Spurs will start at the peculiar time of 6pm and the reason for this has emerged.

Both sides will be seeking three points at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, April 7, for very different reasons.

Spurs have aspirations of being in the Champions League next season and have two games in hand over fourth placed Aston Villa.

The Villans had to make do with a point this afternoon following a 3-3 draw against Brentford at Villa Park and it means Spurs are now only three points behind the West Midlands outfit and know they will go above them if they pick up a win against Forest.

For the City Ground outfit, they will be aiming to put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone as they seek to preserve their top flight status.

Forest are currently 17th in the table and out of the bottom three thanks to a superior goal difference ahead of Luton Town.

The Hatters gave their survival chances a boost this afternoon as they came from behind at Kenilworth Road to beat Bournemouth 2-1, with Carlton Morris netting a dramatic late winner for Rob Edwards' side, as they look the most likely of the three promoted sides to escape being relegated straight back to the Championship.

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Spurs could do the double over Forest, thanks to their 2-0 victory at the City Ground in December through goals from Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski.

The return game will kick-off at 6pm, a rather peculiar and random kick-off time, which will start half an hour after Chelsea's trip to Sheffield United begins, though it will still be televised by Sky Sports.

But the reason for this new kick-off time and date - which was originally going to be 8pm on Monday - has been pinpointed, and it is owing to Tube and railway strikes scheduled for Monday.

Therefore, the change has been made in a bid to avoid the disruption the strikes are likely to cause.

A Premier League spokesperson said: "The Premier League apologises unreservedly to supporters of both clubs and all those affected, for the inconvenience and disruption caused by this late fixture change.

"The change has been made due to matters beyond the League’s control, namely the decision to implement rail and tube strikes on Monday 8 April and the subsequent reduction in available travel services.

"This has resulted in the local authority’s Safety And Advisory Group determining that it is not possible to stage the match with the required levels of safety for attending fans."