In Sunday’s exciting Premier League match at St. James’ Park, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest will have to correct some mistakes after suffering setbacks in their respective quests for Champions League football.
Last weekend’s 4-0 thumping by the champions was too much for the Magpies, and the Tricky Trees’ hopes of winning the title are fading after their 2-1 loss to Fulham.
Newcastle has now finished second in three of their last four top flight games, suggesting that earning another chance at EFL Cup glory in next month’s final with Liverpool and moving on to the fifth round of the FA Cup has come at a cost in terms of league standing.
In addition, Eddie Howe’s only Premier League victory during that period came against Southampton, a basement team, as Man City followed in the footsteps of Fulham and Bournemouth by further undermining the Magpies’ hopes of finishing in the top four.
On a day when the battle for striker supremacy between Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak was supposed to take center stage, Omar Marmoush, Citizens’ new boy, stole the show with an incredible hat-trick before James McAtee made
However, a victory over Forest, who they will try to end a two-game losing streak against in the Premier League, will at least put the seventh-place Magpies, who might fall to ninth by the time Sunday’s game arrives, within striking distance of the Champions League spots.
Newcastle hasn’t lost three straight top flight home games since Steve Bruce’s pre-takeover days; their last such run occurred in February 2021. Howe’s last time managing an identical run of losses was during his time at Bournemouth, back in December 2019.
Chris Wood’s 18th goal of the Premier League season was in vain at Craven Cottage, further undermining Nottingham Forest’s already slim hopes of overtaking Liverpool at the top of the standings. The team met the same end as their hosts against Fulham.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s team suffered their second consecutive away loss in the Premier League, though it was not nearly as humiliating as their 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Bournemouth. The New Zealand international’s goal followed headers from Emile Smith Rowe and Calvin Bassey.
Even so, the Garibaldi are still in control of their Champions League destiny because they are currently in third place in the top flight standings and will undoubtedly be in the top four by the end of gameweek 26, when Santo tries to avoid a personal Forest first.
The visitors haven’t lost three straight away Premier League games since Steve Cooper took over as manager in December 2023, and Forest’s memories of their most recent trip to St. James’ Park couldn’t be more positive. The Portuguese has yet to lose three straight away Premier League games as Tricky Trees manager.
Indeed, ex-Magpies striker Wood scored a memorable hat-trick in Forest’s 3-1 victory at St James’ Park on Boxing Day 2023, but Newcastle has since won three straight, including a 3-1 victory at the City Ground in November 2024.
Newcastle may have been battered and bruised after their defeat at the hands of City, but no Magpies players sustained new injuries, implying that Howe should only be missing three players at most this weekend.
Joelinton, Jamaal Lascelles, and Sven Botman are all coming back from knee injuries, and while the latter’s concern is not serious, Howe has confirmed that he does not expect him to be available for this one.
Given his recent history of knee problems, Howe is right to be cautious about the 25-year-old, and despite failing to score in two consecutive games, Isak has scored in all three appearances against Forest.
The Tricky Trees are also in decent shape ahead of their trip to St James’ Park, having welcomed Callum Hudson-Odoi back from injury as a second-half substitute in their defeat at Craven Cottage.
With the ex-Chelsea man back, Santo should return to his tried-and-true 4-2-3-1 formation rather than starting with three centre-backs, which means Morato should be sacrificed as Hudson-Odoi teams up with Wood, Anthony Elanga, and Morgan Gibbs-White in the attacking third.
Taiwo Awoniyi has completed the concussion protocol, so Forest’s towering goalkeeper Carlos Miguel (hamstring) is out. Matz Sels is still leading the Premier League’s Golden Glove race with 10 clean sheets.
Possible starting lineup for Newcastle United: Dubravka; Guimaraes, Tonali, Longstaff; Murphy, Isak, Gordon; Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall
Possible starting lineup for Nottingham Forest: Sels, Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Anderson, Danilo; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood
We say: Newcastle United 2-2 Nottingham Forest
Although neither team is particularly confident at the moment, neither goalie should leave the field without having picked the ball out of the net because there are deadly shooters on both sides.
Even if Newcastle can break the tie-on Sunday, Howe’s team might have to settle for a point given that Forest has lost five of their six Premier League games this season when they have fallen behind 1-0.