Newcastle 1-3 Nottingham Forest: EPL Man of the Match and Player Ratings

Newcastle crashed to a 16th Boxing Day defeat in the Premier League against red-hot Nottingham Forest team.

Nuno Espirito Santo secured his first victory as Nottingham Forest manager in a surprise 3-1 triumph at St. James’ Park. Chris Wood ran riot, scoring an unforgettable hat-trick against his former club, Newcastle.

What happened?

The game started as many would’ve expected, with Newcastle going 1-0 up inside 24 minutes. Alexander Isak put away a spot-kick to put Eddie Howe’s side in control. Yet, Chris Wood wiped the smiles off the St. James’ Park faithful in the dying moments of the first half, by finishing off a Forest counter-attacking move.

Wood doubled his tally after the break to put Forest into a deserved lead. The striker beat Dan Burn before chipping the ball over Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka to finish off a pass from Anthony Elanga, who assisted both of his first two goals.

The New Zealander finished Newcastle off when Murillo’s through ball gave him a free run at goal. With no defenders in his way, he scored to complete a match-winning treble against his former club.

Newcastle vs Nottingham Forest: Man of the Match

The man of the match was Chris Wood. The striker gave a display that must’ve left Newcastle wondering why they sold him in the first place. His finishes and timings were outstanding on the day. He made the difference in a game that could’ve had more goals.

Player Ratings

Newcastle United: Martin Dubravka (5); Kieran Trippier (6), Sven Botman (4), Fabian Schar (5), Dan Burn (3); Lewis Miley (2), Bruno Guimaraes (5), Sean Longstaff (4); Miguel Almiron (6), Alexander Isak (7), Anthony Gordon (6).

Bench: Lewis Hall (6), Tino Livramento (6), Joelinton (5), Callum Wilson (4).

Nottingham Forest: Matt Turner (8); Ola Aina (6), Murillo (8), Moussa Niakhate (8), Gonzalo Montiel (7); Danilo (6), Ibrahim Sangare (6); Callum Hudson-Odoi (7), Morgan Gibbs-White (8), Anthony Elanga (9); Chris Wood (10).

Bench: Neco Williams (6), Joe Worrall (6), Nicolas Dominguez (6), Cheikhou Kouyate (6), Ryan Yates (6).