Nottingham Forest, manager Nuno Espirito Santo, and defender Neco Williams face misconduct charges from the FA. This comes as former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg exits his role with the club.

The charges stem from comments made after a 2-0 defeat against Everton last month.

The FA alleges that the comments imply bias and question the integrity of match officials. Forest, particularly upset about penalty decisions, released a statement on social media shortly after the match.

Despite their criticism, Forest did not request a replacement for the video assistant referee prior to the game. They have until Thursday to respond to the charges.

After the game Williams told Sky Sports: “Every single week this happens now. We are getting decisions against us, I don’t know why. Is it because we are a lower, bottom half of the table team? Because I guarantee all the top six teams are getting every single one of them.

“I know every single person watching that game today knew all three of them were clear, blatant penalties. It is ridiculous. It is week after week now we are getting these decisions against us."

Nuno said the officials had bad games while Clattenburg, in the Mail on Sunday, called the decisions a joke and said Forest were feeling victimised.

The trio were asked for their observations by the FA. Nuno confirmed on Thursday he had responded.

The Premier League also confirmed it will investigate the comments.

The news comes after Clattenburg stepped down from his role, saying his position had "become more of a hindrance than help" to the club.

Mark Clattenburg joined the relegation-threatened Premier League side in February as a referee analyst. However, he faced controversy after publicly criticizing referee Paul Tierney following a match against Liverpool.

Clattenburg argued that Forest should have been given the ball back after a foul and was denied access to the referees' dressing room. Following this incident, Gary Neville urged Clattenburg to resign.

In his own statement on Friday Clattenburg said his role had caused "unintended friction between Forest and other participants".

"It has also led to the unmerited targeting of me, personally, by certain participants and pundits," he added.

"I performed my services under the consultancy agreement in good faith, to the best of my abilities and in the hope of using my extensive experience as a match official to help Nottingham Forest understand how decisions in relation to key match incidents are made amid the workings of VAR."

Forest travel to relegated Sheffield United on Saturday sitting a point above the Premier League's bottom three.