Forest (H) Pre-match thoughts, team news, possible line up and prediction
After pre-match hope quickly turned to heads in hands at Man City last Saturday, we must respond to that 4-0 spanking at the Etihad and get our Premier League form at St James' Park back on track.
Not only have we lost three of our last four in the league - two of which came on home turf - this is a vital match in our top four battle with Nottingham Forest.
Win and we'll go just three points behind Forest, but lose and Nuno Espirito Santo's side will be nine ahead. It really is a six-pointer in the race for Champions League football and huge match to rebuild some momentum in the league.
Three former Mags return in Chris Wood, Elliot Anderson and Matz Sels, but it's all about us. After a passive, weak and frankly woeful effort at Man City last week, we have to be back at it here and respond.
Howe’s pre-match comments
On our reaction to Man City defeat - "The attitude to training is very good. The attitude and hunger is there to put the last performance to bed and put it right. We have very strong characters behind the team.
"A very strong attitude to represent the club in the right way and I think that is at our heart and is one of our biggest strengths. Then there is really strong leadership within the player group, they know the expectations that they need to reach. We didn’t do that as a group last week, but there is really strong will to come back and fight back."
On Nottingham Forest challenge – "Nottingham Forest have been excellent on the road this year; they have a style and a system that is very hard to play against. For us, I want to see a much more vibrant performance, I want to see us attack, be very much ourselves, see our attacking players expressing themselves. Hopefully, returning to our very best."
On Botman and Joelinton - "Don’t think Sven will be available for this weekend, we will have to see how things stand. He is making progress, good progress, he is very much on track but not quite ready. Joe is doing really well, pushing as he always does, we just need to make sure we re-introduce him at the right time."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWoNHhGv8e8
Team news
Sven Botman (knee) will miss out again along with Joelinton (knee), while Jamaal Lascelles (ACL) is absent and unlikely to be back until the back end of the season.
Nottingham Forest have a clean bill of health, with back-up striker Taiwo Awoniyi passed fit despite breaking his nose in their FA Cup win over Exeter City.
Predicted line-up
(4-3-3): Dubravka – Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall – Bruno, Tonali, Miley – Murphy, Isak, Gordon.
I think we'll see two changes from our 4-0 defeat at Man City, seeing Livramento and Miley replace Trippier and Willock.
Willock didn't build on his two-goal display at Birmingham and Miley immediately took responsibility after coming on at the break last Saturday, showing confidence and calmness on the ball.
Howe spoke highly of the 18-year-old in Friday's press conference and described him as a "fearless" talent who can be "anything he wants to be" in the game; he's that good.
At right-back, Trippier was superb in our last home game - a semi-final victory over Arsenal in the cup - but he had a nightmare at City and Livramento's pace could be key against a Forest side with speed in wide areas who counter quickly.
Match prediction
I'm torn between a low scoring draw and tight win for the Toon, but I'm edging with the latter in the hope we respond to last weekend's hammering and rise to the occasion in such a huge game for our Champions League chances.
Forest have been superb this season - solid at the back, dynamic in midfield and clinical in attack - but they recently lost 5-0 at Bournemouth and 2-1 at Fulham either side of that 7-0 home win over Brighton, and I'm hoping that trend of away defeats continues!
Prediction: Newcastle 2-1 Nottingham Forest
Howay the lads!
