Newcastle United 1-3 Nottingham Forest: Chris Wood hat-trick against former club helps visitors to stunning win

Chris Wood’s hat-trick was more goals than he managed in 18 Premier League appearances for Newcastle at St James’ Park

Chris Wood scored a hat-trick on his return to St James’ Park as Nottingham Forest ended a seven-game winless run with a stunning Premier League victory at Newcastle.

The result moves Forest up to 16th in the table and five points clear of the bottom three prior to Tuesday’s other fixtures.

Alexander Isak had seemingly put Eddie Howe’s side in control when he stroked home a penalty midway through the first half after going down under a challenge from Ola Aina.

But Newcastle only sporadically threatened in attack and always looked vulnerable to a rejigged Forest side set up to counter-attack at pace.

Morgan Gibbs-White dragged an early effort wide for the visitors, while Anthony Elanga missed two excellent opportunities before combining with the former England Under-21 midfielder to allow Wood to tap in a deserved equaliser against his old employers before the break.

Wood, who was Howe’s second signing on Tyneside, added to his tally shortly after the interval, racing on to Elanga’s pass and shimmying past home defender Dan Burn to lift the ball over goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.

He capped a fine display with another composed finish after Murillo’s through ball sent him clear of an absent Newcastle defence.

Elanga and Gibbs-White both had chances to inflict further damage on the hosts, who remain seventh in the table after their fourth defeat in five Premier League games.

Wood and Gibbs-White star for revitalised Forest

Steve Cooper was sacked as Forest manager a week ago after presiding over a run of just one win in 13 top-flight games.

On this evidence, replacement Nuno Espirito Santo appears to have already begun to implement his own ideas to deliver some Christmas cheer to the City Ground.

Having made six changes to the starting XI that lost against Bournemouth on Saturday, he was rewarded by a purposeful display that saw Forest repeatedly cut through the visiting defence with some incisive counter-attacking.

Wood’s sharpness in front of goal belied the fact he was only starting his fifth league game of the season, having largely been utilised as a substitute by Cooper.

While the New Zealand striker will rightly take the plaudits for his match-winning contribution, others in red also excelled.

Forest captain Gibbs-White, who got the better of Bruno Guimaraes in midfield, could also arguably lay claim to being the game’s outstanding player and ought really to have capped a fine display with a couple of goals.

And aside from some wasteful finishing and a poor decision not to slide another first-half pass across to Wood, Elanga provided an excellent outlet for Forest on the right.

Newcastle’s impressive home run ends

While Newcastle came into this contest amid a poor run of their own, there was still an expectation that they would stretch their impressive home record to eight consecutive top-flight victories.

When Aina’s slight contact on the calf of Isak gave them a first-half penalty, which was duly dispatched, they were seemingly on their way.

However, the Swede struggled after that, heading a decent chance straight at Forest goalkeeper Matt Turner and also scuffing a low close-range effort in the second period that the United States international kept out with some help from Moussa Niakhate, who blocked Anthony Gordon’s follow-up attempt.

What would have displeased Howe the most was the way his side were repeatedly picked off on the break, as they fell to their first home defeat against Forest in the top tier since October 1988.

Player of the match

WoodChris Wood

Newcastle United

Squad number67Player nameMiley

Squad number14Player nameIsak

Squad number39Player nameBruno Guimarães

Squad number10Player nameGordon

Squad number1Player nameDúbravka

Squad number2Player nameTrippier

Squad number21Player nameLivramento

Squad number4Player nameBotman

Squad number5Player nameSchär

Squad number36Player nameS Longstaff

Squad number24Player nameAlmirón

Squad number33Player nameBurn

Squad number9Player nameWilson

Squad number7Player nameJoelinton

Squad number20Player nameHall

Nottingham Forest

Squad number11Player nameWood

Squad number21Player nameElanga

Squad number10Player nameGibbs-White

Squad number40Player nameMurillo

Squad number7Player nameN Williams

Squad number22Player nameYates

Squad number4Player nameWorrall

Squad number14Player nameHudson-Odoi

Squad number29Player nameMontiel

Squad number16Player nameDomínguez

Squad number19Player nameNiakhaté

Squad number8Player nameKouyaté

Squad number6Player nameSangaré

Squad number1Player nameTurner

Squad number43Player nameAina

Squad number28Player nameDanilo

Line-ups

Newcastle

Formation 4-3-3

1Dúbravka

2Trippier5Schär4Botman33Burn

67Miley39Bruno Guimarães36S Longstaff

24Almirón14Isak10Gordon

1Dúbravka2Trippier5SchärBooked at 88mins4BotmanSubstituted forHallat 79’minutes33BurnSubstituted forLivramentoat 55’minutes67Miley39Bruno GuimarãesBooked at 85mins36S LongstaffSubstituted forJoelintonat 71’minutes24AlmirónSubstituted forWilsonat 55’minutes14Isak10GordonBooked at 27minsSubstitutes3Dummett7Joelinton9Wilson11Ritchie17Krafth18Karius20Hall21Livramento54Murphy

Nottm Forest

Formation 4-2-3-1

1Turner

29Montiel19Niakhaté40Santiago Costa dos Santos43Aina

28Danilo6Sangaré

21Elanga10Gibbs-White14Hudson-Odoi

11Wood

1Turner29MontielBooked at 27minsSubstituted forN Williamsat 70’minutesBooked at 84mins19Niakhaté40Santiago Costa dos Santos43Aina28DaniloSubstituted forKouyatéat 90+1’minutes6SangaréBooked at 26minsSubstituted forYatesat 70’minutes21ElangaSubstituted forWorrallat 90’minutes10Gibbs-White14Hudson-OdoiSubstituted forDomínguezat 79’minutes11WoodSubstitutes3Tavares4Worrall5Mangala7N Williams8Kouyaté16Domínguez22Yates23Vlachodimos27Origi

Referee:Chris Kavanagh

Attendance:52,207