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Newcastle United's BIGGEST Premier League game of the season
Shields Gazette
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20/02/2025
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.
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Sports
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00:00
So, Newcastle United back in action at St James' Park this weekend when they host Nottingham
00:05
Forest on Sunday. It's a two o'clock kick-off at St James' Park and to be honest I think
00:10
this could be their biggest game of the season so far, certainly biggest Premier League game
00:15
of the season so far. Nottingham Forest, very good team, beaten a lot of good teams. They're
00:21
the only team to have beat Liverpool, for example, this season in the league. They headed
00:25
that game six points ahead of Newcastle in the race to Champions League football. Now
00:29
they did get beat at the weekend against Fulham, but as Newcastle showed earlier in the season,
00:33
Fulham and just a couple of weeks ago, Fulham are a good team. So that's not really surprising
00:38
them to lose that one and they will be hoping, or Nottingham Forest will come to the timeside
00:42
expecting to win. For Newcastle, it's a massive game. They were really disappointed against
00:46
Manchester City on Saturday. They didn't lay a glove on Pep Guardiola's side. I think that
00:50
was the most disappointing thing, the fact that they went into that game thinking that
00:53
they had a chance maybe to end their winless run at the Etihad and really give Man City
00:59
a game and they didn't. They didn't show up. Whether they had one eye on the cup final
01:02
or not, I don't believe that that's a narrative that's A, true, or B, one that should be sort
01:08
of prominent because unfortunately, it's still just less than four weeks to go to the cup
01:13
final, three weeks to go on Sunday. It's a long time to have your eye on the cup final,
01:17
especially with the games coming up. Forest on Sunday, huge game as I said. Then they've
01:21
got a trip to Anfield, which Newcastle have never done well at Anfield, but that could
01:25
be a huge game. Villa got a point against them on Wednesday night, so they'll have thoughts
01:32
of getting something at Anfield, like they had thoughts against something at the Etihad.
01:36
And then they play Brighton in the FA Cup and West Ham before they even think about
01:39
heading to Wembley. They can't afford to take their eye off the ball and they certainly
01:44
can't do that. As I've said, Forest are going to be a really, really tough test. Chris Wood,
01:48
obviously, he scored a hat-trick last time at St James' Park. The return of Elliot Arneson
01:53
as an opposition player. Matt Sells, he's set to make his first St James' Park appearance
01:58
since 2017. So, there's lots of threads, lots of stories going into Sunday's game, but ultimately,
02:04
Newcastle just need to win. I think this is a game where Newcastle fans will take not
02:08
a pretty performance, but just to get three points. Obviously, they'll want a pretty performance,
02:12
they'll want something that can hang their hat on and say, this is Newcastle, they're
02:15
back. Because they have been up and down form recently. The two Arneson games, I think,
02:20
have probably clouded the fact that they haven't been very good for a few games now. I know
02:23
they beat Southampton at St Mary's, but a lot of teams do that. So, they'll want a performance,
02:31
but ultimately, the result matters this week. And if they can get a win on Sunday, they're
02:35
then only three points behind Forest in the race for European qualification. As we saw
02:38
this week with Champions League football, it's likely that the Premier League will get
02:42
five places in next season's Champions League. So, there is an opening there. We assume Liverpool
02:47
and Arsenal will take off two of them, of course. Man City, you'd guess, will probably
02:51
go on a little bit of a run now and they'll be the third one. So, really, there's five
02:55
or six teams fighting for two Champions League spaces. Newcastle will hope to be one of them.
02:58
But that starts this weekend and they've got to get a win. For Eddie Howe, I don't know
03:04
what he does, whether he sticks with his team. I think for me, if I was Eddie Howe, I'd put
03:08
Lewis Miley in that midfield. He was the one, I don't want to say Brightspark, because he
03:11
wasn't necessarily, didn't do anything revolutionary, but he was decent in that second half. So,
03:16
I think he might get his first start of the season in midfield. And the only other call,
03:20
really, is what you do, central defence, whether you keep Fabian Scherr and Dan Byrne. Is Sven
03:25
Bottman fit enough? If he is fit enough, will he play? Does he actually want to keep him
03:28
for Wednesday against Liverpool? So, that's a big decision Eddie Howe's got to make. But
03:33
I think that's the only thing he's got to do. The only other one, really, is if he wants
03:36
to keep Nick Pope or Martin de Braafka in goal. But with the Carwell Cup final in three
03:40
weeks, as I said, I'd be shocked if he changes anything wholesale, especially around the
03:44
goalkeeping department. So, yeah, it's a huge game on Sunday. One that St James' Park needs
03:50
to get up for, because we've seen it can be quiet and flat. And obviously, they've lost
03:53
the last two games at St James' Park in the league. So, they'll want to impress in front
03:58
of their own fans. And they kind of have to, you know, they really do have to. This is
04:02
the weekend, they need to make a statement. We've talked all year, all season, really,
04:05
about them making statements in big games. They've done it a couple of times. This is
04:08
one they need to do it, for their biggest game of the season. And if they can get a
04:11
win, then, you know, we're doing a video this time next week, and it's all rosy.
04:16
Ahead of that Brighton FA Cup game. Of course, Liverpool, I think it's a bit of a free hit,
04:19
the one at Anfield. But yeah, Sunday, massive game for Newcastle United. And as I said,
04:24
probably the biggest league game of the season to date.
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