Forest announced their first pre-season friendly very early, the beginning of April the previous season, away at local neighbours Mansfield Town.

Shane Redmond, Jordan Fairclough, Jean Biansumba, Danny Elliott, Tim Hopkinson, Sean McCashin, Carl Sibson, Matthew Sykes, George Thomson, Max Wright and Tony Diagne were all released with none of them making first team appearances.

[8] July started with the announcement that longtime player James Perch was to leave the Reds for newly promoted Newcastle United.

Between these two deals, Forest won their first pre-season match 2–1 with goals coming from Robert Earnshaw and Matt Thornhill against Portuguese outfit S.C. Olhanense.

3 days before the match Forest defender Luke Chambers put pen to paper on a new 2 deal to see him stay at the club until 2012,[14] however The Reds went on to lose their first fixture 1–0.

Dexter Blackstock headed in an early goal to give Forest the lead, but was followed by Leeds getting an equaliser before the break to see the match finish in a draw.

However, after a freak error from the opposition keeper, Robert Earnshaw took full advantage to open his account for the season and to gain a point for his side.

However, Blackstock struck again late on to earn a point, salvaging Forest's unbeaten home record stretching from a year earlier.

However, McGugan scored two brilliant goals to give his side their first away win of the season and was the beginning of an excellent run of form for the player.

Paul McKenna then got his first goal of the season, albeit with a lot of luck, from outside the area to help Forest earn another home point against Sheffield United.

The first was against Doncaster Rovers which ended in a tight 1–1 draw, Blackstock scoring first before Adam Lockwood struck back quickly.

He made a free kick from 35 yards right into the top corner after David McGoldrick's first ever City Ground goal to win 2–0.

These were in the form of Sheffield Wednesday striker Marcus Tudgay with a view to a permanent deal [15] and Arsenal wonderkid Aaron Ramsey on loan till January.

[16] However these two new faces couldn't help Forest again ending the month badly due to their away form, losing 1–0 to local rivals Leicester City.

Forest overran Crystal Palace at home with a 3–0 win, with Luke Chambers, Marcus Tudgay and Garath McCleary all getting their first goals of the season.

Forest signed American striker Robbie Findley on 23 December after he was released from Real Salt Lake, subject to a work permit.

Despite a Derby setback, Marcus Tudgay bagged two goals against his home town club to send Forest into the break with a 3–1 lead.

With a few minutes left Earnshaw made the score emphatic, making it 5–2 and extending Forest's unbeaten home record to 30 league games.

However Forest were handed a lifeline when McGugan scored a penalty and then Nathan Tyson got an equaliser for the Reds in a match they deserved from.

However, with 3 minutes left Portsmouth scored an own goal to equalise the game and then in stoppage time Tudgay grabbed a winner to give Forest all 3 points.

This was confirmed when Forest conceded 11 goals in just 3 games all against promotion rivals, Swansea City, Leeds United and Reading, heading into April.

Young goalkeeper Karl Darlow made his debut in the away game at Crystal Palace, playing 15 minutes for in the place of Lee Camp, who was brought off with a slight ankle injury.

However, the home team managed to get an equaliser to take the game to extra time and then got the winner to progress to the next round, despite an encouraging performance from Forest.

Also in this fixture, young players Nialle Rodney, Kieron Freeman and Robbie Gibbons all made it onto the bench for their first time in their careers, although they did not make an appearance.

The draw was made on 28 November 2010 at Wembley Stadium and pitted Forest against Preston North End from the same division at Deepdale.

The draw, held on 9 January, handed Forest an away trip to Premier League outfit West Ham United.