Super Eagles defender Ola Aina was in solid form for Nottingham Forest as the visitors ran ring around rather embarassed Newcastle at the St James Park on Boxing Day.
Aina and his teammates ensured that the homers did not have an opportunity to cause damage in their vital area in the course of the match. It was however former Newcastle player Chris Wood who turned into a tormentor in chief, grabbing a hat-trick to deny the homers three points and further compound their woes coming after a recent defeat by Luton. Newcastle has thus only managed a win in six matches so far.
Woods who managed on 18 appearances for Newcastle while with them at the St James Park became a torn in their flesh scoring 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.