Premier League Sack Race Betting: Market suspended after Nuno hits evens | OneFootball

Update 4pm -  Nuno casts doubt over future

Betting on the Premier League next manager to leave was suspended after Nuno Espirito Santo shortened to evens on Friday afternoon.

The market move followed earlier activity on Betfair - as reported below - which saw the Portugese become the new favourite following reports that the club was considering sacking him.

Forest denied this but, when asked about the reports later, Nuno said "where there's smoke, there's fire" and admitted his relationship with Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis had deteriorated:

"I always had a very good relationship with the owner, last season was very, very, very close," said the Forest manager. "This season, not so well. No, it's not (good)."

Forest are 10/1 to be relegated from the Premier League and fans will fear that, if Nuno goes, they will struggle to find a manager who can keep them challenging in the top-half of the table.

11am - Nuno new favourite in manager sack race betting

Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo shot to the top of the Betfair Sportsbook market on who will be the first Premier League manager to leave this season.

The Portuguese is in to 5/4 - from 6/1 a week ago - and has leapfrogged previous Graham Potter 5/2 and Keith Andrews 5/2 after reports of tension within the club over transfers.

The development comes despite Forest's excellent start to the season when they thumped Brentford last weekend.

The Tricky Trees were 3-0 up at half-time, with striker Chris Wood scoring a brace, to give fans hope that they would pick up where they left off after a brilliant campaign last season.

Some Betfair writers expect Forest to struggle this season but their opening round win indicated otherwise.

Forest consider sacking Nuno

Forest are in the Europa League and the club should be buzzing. But all is not well, according to reports on Friday which say the club is considering sacking Nuno.

The transfers are the source of the tension, with Nuno saying last week that his squad was "very, very far" from where it needed to be for the new season.

They have this week, however, signed Douglas Luiz from Juventus on a season-long loan with a conditional obligation to make the deal permanent next summer.

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The club denied that they are given consideration to sacking Nuno, and that they are already looking at potential replacements, but that has not stopped the odds on the Portuguese's departure from shortening to their current price.

Forest travel to Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday and you can get Betfair ambassador Alan Shearer's prediction for the match - along with every other fixture - in his weekly column.