(Reuters) -Nottingham Forest were unsuccessful in their appeal to overturn a four-point deduction in relation to their breach of the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules (PSR) in the 2022-23 season, the league said on Tuesday.
Forest lodged the appeal after the deduction in March left them in danger of relegation. They are now 17th in the table with 29 points, three above the bottom three with two matches left.
"An independent Appeal Board has upheld the decision of a Commission to deduct four points from Nottingham Forest following an admitted breach of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules," the league said in a statement.
Forest had admitted to breaching their maximum loss threshold of 61 million pounds ($76.51 million) by 34.5 million, according to the Premier League.
England's top-flight clubs are allowed to lose 105 million pounds over three seasons. However, two years of Forest's assessment period were spent in the second-tier Championship, meaning they could lose only a maximum of 61 million pounds.
Forest argued that the commission should have seen the sale of attacker Brennan Johnson after the assessment period as a "mitigating factor" and suspended some or all of the points deducted.
"Each of these grounds was rejected by the Appeal Board, which found the Independent Commission was entitled to immediately impose the sanction it did. The four-point deduction will therefore remain in place," the Premier League said.
Forest host Chelsea on Saturday and finish their season at Burnley on May 19.
($1 = 0.7973 pounds)