Newcastle United's BIGGEST Premier League game of the season

Shields Gazette

Joe Buck previews Newcastle United's clash with Nottingham Forest - a match that could be their biggest Premier League game of the season in the race to qualify for next season's Champions League.

Transcript

00:00So, Newcastle United back in action at St James' Park this weekend when they host Nottingham

00:05Forest on Sunday. It's a two o'clock kick-off at St James' Park and to be honest I think

00:10this could be their biggest game of the season so far, certainly biggest Premier League game

00:15of the season so far. Nottingham Forest, very good team, beaten a lot of good teams. They're

00:21the only team to have beat Liverpool, for example, this season in the league. They headed

00:25that game six points ahead of Newcastle in the race to Champions League football. Now

00:29they did get beat at the weekend against Fulham, but as Newcastle showed earlier in the season,

00:33Fulham and just a couple of weeks ago, Fulham are a good team. So that's not really surprising

00:38them to lose that one and they will be hoping, or Nottingham Forest will come to the timeside

00:42expecting to win. For Newcastle, it's a massive game. They were really disappointed against

00:46Manchester City on Saturday. They didn't lay a glove on Pep Guardiola's side. I think that

00:50was the most disappointing thing, the fact that they went into that game thinking that

00:53they had a chance maybe to end their winless run at the Etihad and really give Man City

00:59a game and they didn't. They didn't show up. Whether they had one eye on the cup final

01:02or not, I don't believe that that's a narrative that's A, true, or B, one that should be sort

01:08of prominent because unfortunately, it's still just less than four weeks to go to the cup

01:13final, three weeks to go on Sunday. It's a long time to have your eye on the cup final,

01:17especially with the games coming up. Forest on Sunday, huge game as I said. Then they've

01:21got a trip to Anfield, which Newcastle have never done well at Anfield, but that could

01:25be a huge game. Villa got a point against them on Wednesday night, so they'll have thoughts

01:32of getting something at Anfield, like they had thoughts against something at the Etihad.

01:36And then they play Brighton in the FA Cup and West Ham before they even think about

01:39heading to Wembley. They can't afford to take their eye off the ball and they certainly

01:44can't do that. As I've said, Forest are going to be a really, really tough test. Chris Wood,

01:48obviously, he scored a hat-trick last time at St James' Park. The return of Elliot Arneson

01:53as an opposition player. Matt Sells, he's set to make his first St James' Park appearance

01:58since 2017. So, there's lots of threads, lots of stories going into Sunday's game, but ultimately,

02:04Newcastle just need to win. I think this is a game where Newcastle fans will take not

02:08a pretty performance, but just to get three points. Obviously, they'll want a pretty performance,

02:12they'll want something that can hang their hat on and say, this is Newcastle, they're

02:15back. Because they have been up and down form recently. The two Arneson games, I think,

02:20have probably clouded the fact that they haven't been very good for a few games now. I know

02:23they beat Southampton at St Mary's, but a lot of teams do that. So, they'll want a performance,

02:31but ultimately, the result matters this week. And if they can get a win on Sunday, they're

02:35then only three points behind Forest in the race for European qualification. As we saw

02:38this week with Champions League football, it's likely that the Premier League will get

02:42five places in next season's Champions League. So, there is an opening there. We assume Liverpool

02:47and Arsenal will take off two of them, of course. Man City, you'd guess, will probably

02:51go on a little bit of a run now and they'll be the third one. So, really, there's five

02:55or six teams fighting for two Champions League spaces. Newcastle will hope to be one of them.

02:58But that starts this weekend and they've got to get a win. For Eddie Howe, I don't know

03:04what he does, whether he sticks with his team. I think for me, if I was Eddie Howe, I'd put

03:08Lewis Miley in that midfield. He was the one, I don't want to say Brightspark, because he

03:11wasn't necessarily, didn't do anything revolutionary, but he was decent in that second half. So,

03:16I think he might get his first start of the season in midfield. And the only other call,

03:20really, is what you do, central defence, whether you keep Fabian Scherr and Dan Byrne. Is Sven

03:25Bottman fit enough? If he is fit enough, will he play? Does he actually want to keep him

03:28for Wednesday against Liverpool? So, that's a big decision Eddie Howe's got to make. But

03:33I think that's the only thing he's got to do. The only other one, really, is if he wants

03:36to keep Nick Pope or Martin de Braafka in goal. But with the Carwell Cup final in three

03:40weeks, as I said, I'd be shocked if he changes anything wholesale, especially around the

03:44goalkeeping department. So, yeah, it's a huge game on Sunday. One that St James' Park needs

03:50to get up for, because we've seen it can be quiet and flat. And obviously, they've lost

03:53the last two games at St James' Park in the league. So, they'll want to impress in front

03:58of their own fans. And they kind of have to, you know, they really do have to. This is

04:02the weekend, they need to make a statement. We've talked all year, all season, really,

04:05about them making statements in big games. They've done it a couple of times. This is

04:08one they need to do it, for their biggest game of the season. And if they can get a

04:11win, then, you know, we're doing a video this time next week, and it's all rosy.

04:16Ahead of that Brighton FA Cup game. Of course, Liverpool, I think it's a bit of a free hit,

04:19the one at Anfield. But yeah, Sunday, massive game for Newcastle United. And as I said,

04:24probably the biggest league game of the season to date.

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