Woltemade starts, Hall returns - Confirmed Newcastle & Nottingham Forest team news

Newcastle United return to Premier League action today, taking on Nottingham Forest in today's 2pm kick-off live on Sky Sports.

Before Thursday night's 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa, Forest had gone 10 games unbeaten, while Newcastle ended a run of five straight defeats last weekend with a 3-1 win over Brighton.

We arrive in 13th place on 45 points and would move above Sunderland and Fulham with a win, with Chelsea (49 points) and Brentford (51 points) also in our sights if we can come away victorious.

Team news from Nottingham 

Eddie Howe has made TWO changes from last Saturday's win over Brighton, seeing Lewis Hall and Nick Woltemade replace Lewis Miley and Joe Willock.

The formation is unclear. Malick Thiaw could be at right-back in a 4-3-3, some believe Lewis Hall may shift to that right side, or it could even mean a switch to a 3-5-2, with Hall and Jacob Murphy at wing-backs and Woltemade joining Will Osula up front. 

Newcastle XI: Pope - Thiaw, Botman, Burn - Murphy, Bruno, Tonali, Joelinton, Hall - Woltemade, Osula.

Subs: Ramsdale, Trippier, Wissa, Gordon, Barnes, Elanga, Willock, A.Murphy, Ramsey.

Nottingham Forest XI: Sels - Jair Cunha, Milenkovic, Morato - Williams, Anderson, Dominguez, Netz - Bakwa, Awoniyi, Jesus. 

Subs: Ortega, Yates, McAtee, Whitehall, Sinclair, Wood, da Silva Moreira, Lucca, Hutchinson

Our guess is a back three, but time will tell. Either way, it's good to see Big Nick back in the side alongside Hall, with Howe picking a strong-looking 11 at the City Ground.

Miley's absence comes after he suffered a fractured fibula in training this week, while Anthony Gordon remains on the bench.

For the home side, Morgan Gibbs-White misses out after a bad cut to his face in last week's 3-1 win at Chelsea, while Chris Wood is on the bench.

Strong record must continue at City Ground 

Newcastle have had a lot of success against Nottingham Forest in recent years, losing just once to the Reds since they returned to the Premier League in 2022.

In our last eight meetings over that period, Eddie Howe's Mags have won seven games, one being a shootout win in the Carabao Cup, and lost just once.

The defeat was a 1-3 defeat at St James' Park, where ex-Mag Chris Wood and current Mag Anthony Elanga ran riot. 

Today, an away victory feels absolutely essential if we're to keep our faint hopes of a European finish alive. Howay the lads!