Everton have confirmed that they have launched an appeal against their recent 10-point deduction in the Premier League, which dropped them into the relegation zone in England's top flight.

The Toffees were handed a 10-point deduction in the Premier League after being found guilty of breaking the Premier League's rules when it comes to profit and sustainability, and they dropped from 14th in the table to 19th, level on points with basement side Burnley.

Everton have now confirmed that an appeal against the biggest sporting sanction in Premier League history has been lodged.

"Everton Football Club has today lodged with the Chair of the Premier League's Judicial Panel its appeal of the decision by a Premier League Commission to impose a 10-point deduction on the Club. An Appeal Board will now be appointed to hear the case," read a club statement on Friday.

An independent commission issued the penalty, and an appeal board will be appointed to hear the case.

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There were protests from sections of the Everton supporters both before and during their side's 3-0 defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League last weekend.

The Toffees could potentially be sued by recently-relegated clubs for lost earnings, which might force them to sell off some of their star players, including Jordan Pickford, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Amadou Onana.

Speaking during his press conference to preview Saturday's clash with Nottingham Forest, Everton head coach Sean Dyche told reporters: "It's been an interesting 10 months or so. The outside focus has been pretty negative for the last couple of seasons so I don't think bad news will affect them too greatly as they are used to bad news.

"I would suggest it is no more draining than some of the other stuff we have come through – and we have come through it. We have to find ourselves a way through the latest setback; there might be help on the way (in the form of the appeal) but we don't know.

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"We have to stay steadfast to the idea of winning games and that will be the key for us.

"The performance against Man United was very pleasing and I think there is a situation where all the players are, if not galvanised even further, then well aware of the task in front of us and it's changed significantly since the [Crystal] Palace game."

Everton had been on a four-game unbeaten run in all competitions ahead of the clash with Man United at Goodison Park last weekend, but they suffered a 3-0 loss to the Red Devils.

The Toffees will now head to Forest in Saturday's late start before back-to-back home games against Newcastle United and Chelsea ahead of a trip to Burnley on December 16.

Clubs, under Premier League rules, can lose a maximum of £105m over three years, but Everton were found to have sustained losses of £19.5m over what is allowed for the relevant period.