Hucknall's Joe Worrall and Nottingham Forest to face Newcastle in Premier League opener

A week later, West Ham will be the visitors to the City Ground for Forest’s first home Premier League game since 1999.

In a big first month, Forest also have games with Spurs and champions Manchester City to look forward to before the end of August.

The Reds, led by Hucknall’s own Joe Worrall, are back in the big time after their play-off final win over Huddersfield Town at Wembley last month.

And fans have been looking forward to the big fixture announcement and seeing Forest’s name once again alongside the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Spurs, Manchester City and Arsenal.

Fans will have already been checking the dates for their clashes with the big guns as well as the traditional Christmas dates.

And two of those big guns are Forest’s opponents in a mouth-watering Christmas schedule with Reds heading to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Boxing Day, before welcoming Chelsea to the City Ground on December 31, followed by a trip to Southampton to start 2023 on January 2.

Boxing Day is particularly noteworthy this year as it will see the resumption of league action following a six-week break for the World Cup to take place in Qatar, with the likes of Brennan Johnson hoping to have been involved for Wales in the tournament.

The World Cup break will start after the games over the weekend of November 12 and 13.

Two more very important dates for Forest this year are the big East Midlands derbies with Leicester City with the Steve Cooper’s men making the short trip down the M1 to the King Power Stadium on October 1 before the Foxes make the return trip to the City Ground on January 14.

Forest will end their season away at Crystal Palace on May 28.

This being the Premier League of course, Forest fans will have to get used to seeing more games potentially shifted around away from the traditional 3pm Saturday afternoon kick-offs to accommodate TV schedules and European games opponents may have had in the midweek prior to the weekend’s matches.

But whenever they play, Forest can be sure of having full houses for all their home games and the full allocation of their away support taken up for the road games as the fans get ready to sample the sweet taste of Premier League football once again.

Nottingham Forest fixtures 2022-23

Aug 6: Newcastle (A)

Aug 13: West Ham (H)

Aug 20: Everton (A)

Aug 27: Tottenham (H)

Aug 31: Manchester City (A)

Sep 3: Bournemouth (H)

Sep 10: Leeds (A)

Sep 17: Fulham (H)

Oct 1: Leicester (A)

Oct 8: Aston Villa (H)

Oct 15: Wolves (A)

Oct 18: Brighton (A)

Oct 22: Liverpool (H)

Oct 29: Arsenal (A)

Nov 5: Brentford (H)

Nov 12: Crystal Palace (H)

Dec 26: Manchester United (A)

Dec 31: Chelsea (H)

Jan 2: Southampton (A)

Jan 14: Leicester (H)

Jan 21: Bournemouth (A)

Feb 4: Leeds (H)

Feb 11: Fulham (A)

Feb 18: Manchester City (H)

Feb 25: West Ham (A)

Mar 4: Everton (H)

Mar 11: Tottenham (A)

Mar 18: Newcastle (H)

Apr 1: Wolves (H)

Apr 8: Aston Villa (A)

Apr 15: Manchester United (H)

Apr 22: Liverpool (A)

Apr 25: Brighton (H)

Apr 29: Brentford (A)

May 6: Southampton (H)

May 13: Chelsea (A)

May 20: Arsenal (H)

May 28: Crystal Palace (A)