Swatted aside with concerning ease at Manchester City, blow Nottingham Forest away with four goals in an 11-minute blitz, retreat nervously and end up clinging on for dear life in stoppage time.
Arne Slot must have no idea what to expect as he prepares his Liverpool side to face the Magpies on Wednesday and again at Wembley next month.
Play like they did in the blistering match-winning period on Sunday at St James’ Park and they can beat anyone, including the Premier League’s leaders. Newcastle are now just four places behind them and two behind faltering Forest.
But boy did they make hard work of what looked like being a mauling at half-time when they led 4-1. More goals followed in the second half but both from Forest, who threatened the most unlikely of comebacks. Still, it’s a win – and it was a fine response to the Manchester City defeat and Forest’s early opener.
Considering Nuno Espirito Santo’s side had lost just won and won 13 of the 19 Premier League games in which they’d scored first, those inside St James’ Park will have feared the worst when Callum Hudson-Odoi took advantage of a Jacob Murphy mistake and fired the visitors in front from distance after just six minutes.
But by the time the hapless visitors touched the ball in Newcastle’s box for the first time after 45 minutes, they were 4-1 down.
The excellent Lewis Miley, making his first Premier League start of the season, scored the first goal, before Murphy made amends and put the Magpies in front two minutes later. Alexander Isak then scored his 49th Newcastle goal from the spot and his 50th just a minute and 51 seconds later.
Forest’s fans, so boisterous early on, were silenced, only to make themselves heard again just after the break when they told of how they were “going to win 5-4”. Nikola Milenkovic kept those extremely slim hopes alive and substitute Ryan Yates scored another in the last minute but Newcastle, with chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan watching on from the stands, saw it out.
A win was crucial after Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Fulham’s Saturday slip-ups and will at least help to ease any fears that United were going to take their eyes off the Premier League ball before next month’s Wembley trip.
Joelinton will be back for the final but Miley will be tough to leave out if he keeps playing like he did on Sunday. The tireless teenager was class, while Joe Willock alongside him enjoyed his best 45 minutes of the campaign in the first half, much-needed after his Manchester City struggle. Willock was the beneficiary of Sandro Tonali’s muscle tightness which meant the Italian was only fit enough to be used from the bench in the final stages. This time last year, Lewis Hall was a Newcastle substitute. Now, surely only Isak has the beating of him in the running for Player of the Season. The left-back was immense in the first half, creating Newcastle’s first two goals and winning the penalty.
On the opposite side of the defence, Howe dropped Kieran Trippier and also made a change in goal with Nick Pope coming in for Martin Dubravka and starting his first game since returning from injury.
And Pope’s first action was to pick the ball out of the net.
There looked to be no danger when Murphy darted inside and received a throw-in from Tino Livramento, but his attempt to play a blind pass back to the full-back was intercepted by Hudson-Odoi, who lashed into Pope’s bottom corner.
It was Miley who started the blitz. His first touch to control Hall’s cross was excellent and his second even better, finding the bottom corner.
It took just two minutes for Newcastle to score their second and just a matter of seconds for the home side to get the ball from back to front. After making a routine save to deny Hudson-Odoi, Pope quickly set the Magpies on the attack. Hall was again the provider, racing onto Isak’s clever touch, his deflected cross bouncing into the path of Murphy to bundle it home and make amends. Dan Burn raced back to congratulate Pope for his part in the goal and Jason Tindall applauded from the technical area.
Forest couldn’t slow Newcastle down and it was the brilliant Hall’s cross that smacked the raised arm of Ola Aina, who’ll have known what was coming when referee Jarred Gillett went to check the monitor. Had Sels known what was coming he’d have stood his ground and saved Isak’s cheeky lofted penalty straight down the middle. Just a minute and 51 seconds later, Isak had his second and Newcastle’s fourth, teed up by Willock for his 50th goal in black and white.
Newcastle retreated in the second half and Milenkovic gave Forest a glimmer of hope when he touched in from a corner. Yates then scored from another set-piece, but Newcastle held on.
