Nottingham Forest 1-2 Newcastle: Alexander Isak doubles down on Magpies’ Champions League hopes

Alexander Isak’s injury time penalty gave Newcastle a 2-1 victory over struggling Nottingham Forest and boosted their Champions League hopes.

In the 26th minute, Forest made a breakthrough against the flow of play when Emmanuel Dennis took advantage of a mistake by Sven Botmann to take advantage of a spectacular forward move.

After substitute Elliott Anderson saw his team’s first competitive goal ruled offside by the video assistant referee, Moussa Niakete handled in the box in stoppage time and Isak made the spot. Newcastle deservedly scored all three when they decided the rest. .

The result moves Newcastle within a point to Tottenham Hotspur for the fourth and final spot in the Champions League, while Steve Cooper’s side remain in 14th place, two points above the drop zone. 6 clubs under it.

How Newcastle came from behind to keep their top-four push

It has been 24 years since Forest last hosted Newcastle in the Premier League, a season that ended in relegation.

Newcastle were unlucky not to take a 12-minute lead after a well-worked free-kick caught the Woods defense in a nap.

But just as the Magpies looked to turn the early pressure into the first goal of the night, Forest took the lead after Botman made an error. Botman couldn’t see Dennis lurking in the box when he went back to Nick Pope.

The Nigerian international still had work to do to find the net, but he produced an impressive chip, fending off both Pope and Kieran Trippier on the line.

Newcastle continued to search for an equalizer, hitting Woodwork again ten minutes before half-time, when Sean Longstaff’s shot from the edge of the box deflected over the bar, this time with Felipe’s sliding tackle.

But Eddie Howe’s side naturally leveled the score thanks to a sensational goal from Isak on almost the last kick of the first half.

Howe brought on Anderson to replace Allan Saint-Maximin, who was ineffective at halftime.

And it was the midfielder who thought he gave his side the lead midway through the second half after jumping past Serge Aurier at the far post and heading strongly into Isaac’s attractive centre, but VAR was the referee Paul. I just asked Tierney to go to the pitch. – Side monitor.

On-field officials ruled that Forest defender Felipe was not deliberately trying to play the ball when the cross came, but that the longstaff were offside in a build-up.

But it was a one-way street at this point, with Newcastle delivering second-half pressure after a moment of madness from Nyacate, who inexplicably handled a cross from the left as the match entered the first six minutes of stoppage time. I was..

Ice-cool Isak converted his third spot-kick in two games into a hearty international break with a 0.5-cent closing goal for Newcastle.

Worrying Forest Trends – Opta stats

• Nottingham Forest have scored first in 10 home Premier League games this season, which is tied with Manchester City for the most. However, he has failed to win in five of those games (W5 D2 L3), making him the most first team to score in home games.
• Newcastle United won a Premier League away match with a goal in the 90th minute for the first time since Ayozze Perez scored at White Hart Lane against Tottenham Hotspur in December 2015.
• Nottingham Forest have suffered a Premier League losing streak for the first time since losing five in a row between August and October.
• Newcastle United have kept a clean sheet in their last six Premier League games, the longest streak under Eddie Howe and the longest since going without a clean sheet in the first 14 games of last season.
• Newcastle United’s Premier League-winning goal was a second 90-minute penalty, as they did again against Fulham in December 2007, thanks to a Joey Burton penalty.

Can Isak send Newcastle to the Champions League?

Analysis by Richard Morgan of Sky Sports:

How high are Newcastle United now if Alexander Isak was good for the whole season?

Swedish striker, It was acquired by Real Sociedad for £63m last summer. He scored on his Liverpool debut in August, but suffered a severe hamstring tear just as he settled down at St James’ Park.

The injury kept Issak out for the rest of 2022, missing a total of 16 games before finally returning in January.

But since regaining full fitness, the 23-year-old has started to show the form he saw before the layoff, and after scoring two goals at the City Ground on Friday night, he has finished four in his last two games. I am recording a goal. club.

And it seems his manager Eddie Howe has decided to run with Ysaac before his trusty frontman Callum Wilson.

In fact, Isaac has scored six goals in the Premier League this season in just 10 appearances, a staggering pace of one every 115 minutes.

What the manager said..

Forest Boss Steve Cooper:

“It’s always the worst way to lose in the last minutes of playing a game. We played against a really good team and we knew it was going to be like that. Just disappointed with the decisions on goals. The timing of goals. Lost time in the first half and lost time in the closing stages of the game. We need to look back on ourselves.

“I think André Ayew’s first goal was a foul, but I’m not going to lament too much about it. It was a strange performance by the referee, but first we have to look at ourselves. We have some bad football. We made the decision.” Penalty decisions are solely our responsibility. In the last three matches, we have given up three penalty kicks, all of which were self-inflicted injuries.

“I’m disappointed with the timing of the first goal and the football decision we made. We’ll just see the half-out and go inside. We had to sort out some things, but things have changed. It’s hard. We can take one, but we don’t blame ourselves.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe:

“We had a lot of chances in the first half, so I had a feeling it was going to be that kind of night, but the players kept going and I thought we deserved to win the game.

“For most of the game, except for the 10-15 minute spell after they scored, we got a little lost, but we thought we were really good.

On putting Isak on the left in front of the equalizer: “Alex can play there so you can see him playing. He is versatile and has the tools to play in different positions. ing.

“Saint Maximin was struggling with his hamstring, but it still worked, so we decided to run less and let Alex run wide.”

First half for Newcastle: “We had a lot of really good chances. If you think about Willock early in the game, I think Alex hit the post and Longstaff hit the bar.”

“It’s been a similar story in the last few weeks when we really didn’t get our chances, but losing 1-0 is very difficult to come back from and the players deserve a lot of credit for that. So I’m about to give credit to the players.

About VARs: I didn’t get a chance to look back. It was unbelievable at the time that the referee was going to the monitor for offside. I have to sit down and explain the rules. It was a big moment in his career, so disappointing for Elliott. “

On Elliott’s influence: “It’s really like him. He’s a technical player, he can play in different positions, on the left, on the inside. He can handle the ball and he can play when it matters.”

what’s next?

Forest will host fellow Wolves on 1 April (3pm) and Newcastle will entertain Man United in a match that can be seen live on 2 April at Sky Sports Premier League.