Nottingham Forest’s four-point penalty for breaching Premier League financial rules has been upheld by an independent appeal board.

The club were hit with the original sanction by an independent commission on March 18 for breaching permitted losses by £34.5million in the assessment period ending with the 2022-23 season.

They quickly indicated their intention to appeal, but the panel has upheld the original penalty.

That means Forest remain on 29 points and sit three above the relegation zone, with two Premier League matches left to play.

Forest had sought a reduction because they felt the original commission should have taken the sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham – two months after the end of the financial year ending 2023 – into account as a mitigating factor.

They also felt the original commission had made a mistake by not wholly or partially suspending the sanction.

A release published on the Premier League website read: “The club argued that the independent commission committed an error in not treating its sale of a high-profile player shortly after the assessment period as a mitigating factor, and that it committed a further error in electing not to suspend some or all of the points deduction it imposed.

“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.”

A reduction of two points or more from the original sanction would have been enough to relegate second-bottom Burnley, but instead the Clarets fight on and trail Forest by five points with two games to go.

The appeal board said the original commission’s decision on Forest was “commendably clear and comprehensive”.

It criticised the approach taken by Forest’s legal team, which it accused of subjecting the original decision to “microscopic forensic examination”.

“Some of the criticisms of the (original) decision have involved a minute examination of the words used by the commission,” the appeal board said.

“Decisions such as these should not be subjected to microscopic forensic examination and interpreted as if they were statutes which have been drafted by Parliamentary Counsel.

“Allegations of infelicities of language or errors which are not material to the ultimate decision add to the complexity and costs of proceedings and are rarely likely to lead to a successful challenge of a decision.”

The appeal board added: “As the numbers of these (PSR) cases increases, there will be growing temptation to examine them in detail and burden commissions and appeal boards with minute examination of the similarities with and differences from the instant case. Such an approach will rarely be helpful.

“We are unanimous that the commission was entitled (and right) to impose the sanction of a deduction of four points and to refuse to suspend it.”

Forest have been contacted for comment.