The ideal end to a brilliant week for Newcastle United.
After an important victory in Europe on Wednesday night, we had to back it up in the Premier League and build on the big win in Brussels; and that’s exactly what we did.
It was a tough opening 45 minutes, often lacking in quality or fluidity, but we responded in the final 45 to see off Nottingham Forest by two goals to nil, keeping our fifth clean sheet of the league season.
Bruno Guimaraes put in an inspired second-half display, scoring a superb opener and winning a penalty, Sandro Tonali set the tone once again and another Nick Woltemade goal was a big plus, seeing the German join the history books as just the third Newcastle player (alongside Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand) to score in his first three games at St James’ Park.
Malick Thiaw was also sensational alongside Sven Botman, with £34m quickly looking a bargain and Rolls Royce centre-back who breezed through another win to nil without putting a foot wrong.
Eddie Howe stuck with the same side that saw off Union SG 4-0 in midweek, meaning another start at left-back for Dan Burn and Anthony Elanga on the right wing against his former club, who had a few ex-Mags in their XI in Elliot Anderson, Chris Wood and Matz Sels.
One absence and big pre-match worry was news of a hamstring issue for Lewis Hall, giving us another worry at full-back just as Tino Livramento is sidelined for the next seven weeks.
Newcastle XI: Pope – Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn – Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton – Elanga, Woltemade, Gordon.
Subs: Ramsdale, Lascelles, Krafth, Miley, Osula, Willock, Barnes, Murphy, Schar.
We were the better side over the first 15 minutes without ever hitting top gear, with Joelinton forcing Sels into two saves; one with a low strike as he arrived into the box and the other a close-range header from a corner.
Forest then came into it for the first time, winning a dangerous free kick that Gibbs-White didn’t make the most of and getting some joy down our left, where Burn’s positioning and lack of pace allowed them to break in behind.
We’d lost our way after an OK start, struggling to keep the ball, giving away cheap free kicks and allowing the visitors to grow into it as Gibbs-White continued to give Burn a tough time.
Our midfield wasn’t quite at it, we were giving Elanga too much to do when given the ball down that right and things weren’t clicking down the left, with Woltemade also suffocated by Forest’s three centre-backs as he too struggled to get into the game.
It was all a bit flat and lacking in spark, as Forest’s back five and combative midfield didn’t allow us the time or space we thrived from at Union SG in midweek, although we did end the half well and probably didn’t want the whistle to come, putting Forest under pressure and seeing a Tonali shot flash wide before the two sides headed into the break level.
We had to be better in the second half and we were presented a big chance to score five minutes after the restart. Morato made a mess of Gordon’s cross and the ball fell to Woltemade, who looked set to smash past Sels until the Brazilian centre-back made up for his mistake with a goal-saving block.
The game was crying out for a moment of quality and, after a few penalty claims were ignored as Morato hauled down Burn in the box, Bruno stepped up with a moment of quality to break the deadlock. A curling effort from the edge of the box after good work from the Brazilian and Burn to wrestle back possession. 1-0!
A beauty from Bruno Guimarães! 😍 pic.twitter.com/Qpfz5URX8z
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 5, 2025
Howe made changes to refresh an unchanged side, bringing on Barnes and Murphy for Gordon and Elanga with just over 20 minutes to play. And minutes later, we should’ve made it 2-0.
After Tonali almost lobbed Sels with a brilliant first time after from Trippier’s diagonal, Woltemade smashed the underside bar from the resulting corner. It fell to him quickly, but the big German should’ve scored!
And again, we were left wondering how we didn’t score 10 minutes later. First, Thiaw met Murphy’s cross and saw his close-range volley blocked by Sels, before Barnes broke the offside trap and fired straight at the Belgian!
Then, just as we were left to wonder if we’d live to regret big misses to make it 2-0, Bruno won a spot kick. He pounced on a loose ball Anderson didn’t control and the former Mag clattered into our captain. Big Nick stepped up and this time he gave Sels no chance, firing brilliant into the top left corner.
Nick Woltemade converts from the spot to double Newcastle’s advantage! 💥 pic.twitter.com/xsUa51lgRO
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 5, 2025
Game. Set. Match. And a much needed win in the league, sending us up to 11th, two points away from Chelsea in sixth and into the international break on a high.
Next up, a trip to Brighton in two weeks time and hopefully no more injuries over the break!
Howay the lads!
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