Vitor Pereira claims FIVE players will miss Nottingham Forest's clash with Newcastle

Newcastle United take on Nottingham Forest on Sunday at The City Ground, fresh from their disappointing exit from the Europa League.

On Thursday night, Nottingham Forest took a 1-0 lead to Villa Park for the Europa League semi-final second leg, but the Villans turned on the style, winning 4-0 on the night and progressing into the final.

It was a massive hammer blow for Nottingham Forest, who still have Premier League survival on their minds, and that defeat brought an end to an excellent run of form.

Forest had a full bench for Thursday's game, but so few of the players named were actually fit enough to take part in the game.

Vitor Pereira's squad is depleted

Speaking after Thursday's match, Forest boss Vitor Pereira confirmed that five players named in the team on Thursday weren't actually available and will remain out of contention on Sunday when they face Newcastle.

In a post on X, the BBC's Ian Dennis posted the abrupt quotes from Pereira who confirmed that Murillo, Morgan Gibbs-White, Dan Ndyoe, Ibrahim Sangare and Ola Aina will all miss Sunday's game.

"Despite being on the bench tonight, Vitor Pereira has said Sangare “OUT”, Ndoye “OUT”, Murillo “OUT and Gibbs White “OUT” plus Aina “OUT” for Sunday against Newcastle United."

This can only be good news for Newcastle

We're not ones to revel in the misfortunes of others, but this is pretty good news for Newcastle, as was the nature of the Europa League defeat.

Nottingham Forest were unbeaten in seven games before Thursday, and now they have to shake off a 4-0 drubbing in a major semi-final, all while missing five key players. It can only be seen as a positive for the Magpies.

Newcastle, despite winning against Brighton last weekend, didn't play particularly well, and that was at St James' Park, so away from home, we really need any help we can get.

None of this guarantees points for Newcastle, but it certainly doesn't hurt our chances.