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2022/23 English Premier League
Matchday 28
Nottingham Forest v Newcastle United
City Ground
West Bridgford, England
Friday, 17 March 2023
Kick-off is at 22h00
Newcastle will continue their push for a top-four finish in the
Premier League when they take on Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Friday, March 17.
The Magpies arrested a two-match losing streak with a 2-1 victory over Wolves at St James' Park last Sunday to leapfrog Liverpool into fifth position.
It was a first win in six outings for Eddie Howe's side, who had dropped out of the Champions League places as a result of that poor run of form.
The Tynesiders now trail Tottenham (4th) by four points with two games in hand and will searching for back-to-back wins in the league for the first time since they beat Chelsea and Leicester towards the back-end of 2022.
The Reds are two points further adrift after being beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth on the south coast last Saturday, while Brighton moved up to seventh in the standings courtesy of a 2-2 draw at Leeds.
Image copyright: Getty Images
Forest slumped to a third defeat in five matches after going down 3-1 at Tottenham, which also left them winless during that period.
Steve Cooper's team are just two points clear of the relegation zone in 14th spot and one behind Crystal Palace (12th) as the bottom eight clubs are separated by only five points.
Brennan Johnson is enjoying a fine debut in the Premier League and bagged a brace against Everton on March 5 to take his tally for the season to seven goals, making him the club's top scorer. The Wales international has stepped up in the absence of Taiwo Awoniyi, who missed the last eight games with a groin injury.
Miguel Almiron scored the winner against Wanderers to register his 11th goal of the campaign and is now just one shy of equalling his best haul in a season, which came for Atlanta United in Major League Soccer six years ago. The Paraguay international has become a firm fan favourite amongst the Toon Army following his match-winning displays in 2022-23.
In team news, Cooper remains without a whole host of first-team players as Awoniyi (groin), Willy Boly, Scott McKenna, Dean Henderson, Cheikhou Kouyate, Chris Wood (all thigh), Giulian Biancone (knee) and Omar Richards (calf) are all ruled out for the visit of the Toon, who are missing Joelinton (suspension), Anthony Gordon (ankle), Emil Krafth (knee) and Ryan Fraser.
Cooper admitted his players weren't competitive enough against Spurs in the first half and felt they had given themselves too much to do in the second half despite a marked improvement.
"We didn't compete enough in the first half and that was frustrating and disappointing. You look at the first two goals and look at the individual moments and they're moments where we have to be stronger and more competitive," he said.
"Football starts and ends with competing, winning duels, one v one, competing and running and the difference in the first half compared to the second half was based around all of those things."
Howe praised the mentality of his players to push for the win after Wolves had equalised but he believes the game should have been put to bed in the first half.
"Our first-half performance was very, very good. Alex [Isak] scored a massive goal for us. Second half, a one-goal lead is always delicate and it should have been more at half-time," he told Sky Sports.
"At 1-1 the game is in the balance, with our recent run that was a real test of character for us. But we had to regroup and we found another level."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Newcastle - 4
Forest - 0
Draws - 1
Matchday 28 fixtures:
Friday, March 17
22h00: Newcastle United v Nottingham Forest
Saturday, March 18
17h00: Aston Villa v Bournemouth
17h00: Brentford v Leicester City
17h00: Southampton v Tottenham Hotspur
17h00: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leeds United
19h30: Chelsea v Everton
Sunday, March 5
16h00: Arsenal v Crystal Palace
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