Newcastle 1-3 Nottingham Forest: Chris Wood hits hat-trick as Nuno Espirito Santo gets first win in charge

Chris Wood’s hat-trick propelled Nottingham Forest to their first win under Nuno Espirito Santo as they defeated Newcastle United 3-1 at St James’ Park.

In the early kick-off on Boxing Day, Wood’s hat-trick against his former club lifted Forest to a brilliant comeback victory – ending a run of seven Premier League games without a win in the process.

After restoring parity on the stroke of half-time with a close-range finish to cancel out Alexander Isak’s 23rd-minute penalty, Wood scored twice in the space of seven second-half minutes to put Forest out of sight.

Having coolly skipped beyond a ramshackle Newcastle defence for his second, Wood then calmly rounded Martin Dubravka after beating a poorly executed offside trap to become just the fourth player to score a Premier League hat-trick against a side he has previously played for in the competition.

Newcastle huffed and puffed, but Eddie Howe’s side were unable to find a way through as they suffered just a second home league defeat of the season.

Morgan Gibbs-White had the best chance of the opening exchanges despite a dominant start from Newcastle, who were rewarded for their efforts when Ola Aina tripped Isak, who calmly slotted in the resulting penalty.

Yet Forest stayed in the game and, after failing to tee up Wood in a great position just after the half-hour mark, Anthony Elanga atoned with a neat pass into the Forest forward in first-half stoppage time, with the New Zealander making no mistake.

Matt Turner kept out Isak’s header and scrambled away the rebound to keep Forest on level terms heading into the second half, and Wood made his goalkeeper’s work count when he latched onto Elanga’s pass and got beyond two defenders before lifting a neat finish over Dubravka.

Newcastle’s goalkeeper was left humbled again seven minutes later with Wood beating the offside trap and easily leaving Dubravka in his wake as he slotted in his third.

Moussa Niakhate’s block denied Anthony Gordon as Newcastle searched for a response, but Forest held firm as they ended their long wait for a win and moved into 16th, with Everton not in action until Wednesday.

There’s no dressing it up – Newcastle are in horrific form. This was their final home match of 2023, but even the magic that St James’ Park can bring could not inspire the Magpies to arrest their poor run of results.

Sure, it’s only their second home defeat of the season in the league, but December has been a torrid month for Howe’s team; they dropped out of the Champions League, the League Cup and lost five of their six league fixtures. They will just want to turn the page into 2024 and hope January sees some more of their injured players return to the fold, as their squad right now appears to be running on empty, though they have both Liverpool and Manchester City to face either side of the small matter of taking on local rivals Sunderland in the FA Cup.

One player in particular rather sums up the current malaise, with Kieran Trippier again turning in a below-par display. The right-back, who failed to step up and catch Wood offside for Forest’s third goal, looks like he needs a rest, as do plenty of his team-mates.

Wood scored for Newcastle on Boxing Day last year, but he was doing all of the damage against his old this time out.

The experienced forward was in the right place at the right time to net his first goal, but his second and third were wonderful examples of centre-forward play, with Wood showing plenty of guile and composure. It was a huge performance from the 32-year-old, and it will be all the more sweeter given it came against one of his old sides.

20’ – PENALTY TO NEWCASTLE: This one is a spot-kick! Isak goes down after a clip from behind from Aina. It looked a clumsy one, though referee Chris Kavanagh takes his time before pointing to the spot. There definitely wasn’t hefty contact, but will that be enough to see the decision get overturned?

23’ – GOAL! Newcastle 1-0 Nottingham Forest (Isak): Cool. As. You. Like. That’s a great finish from Isak, who coolly slots his spot-kick beyond Turner, who had just started to move the other way. The penalty wasn’t exactly in the corner, but it had too much pace on it for the Forest goalkeeper.

33’ – CHANCE: That should have been 1-1, as Elanga capitalised on some slack Newcastle defending to burst away from Burn and drive into the box. He has Wood in acres of space to his left, but from a tight angle, the Sweden international goes for goal, and Dubravka makes the save. A horrendous decision from the former Manchester United man!

46’ – GOAL! Newcastle 1-1 Nottingham Forest (Wood): Wood scores against his old club, and what a shocking end to the first half for Newcastle! Almiron had a great chance to feed in Gordon, but got his pass all wrong inside Forest’s area. From there, the visitors break at rapid pace, with Gibbs-White sliding it through for Elanga and this time, the winger does square it back for the waiting Wood, who tucks home the equaliser.

48’ –BIG SAVE! Isak thought he’d have his second there to put Newcastle back in front on the stroke of the interval, but Turner manages to keep out the striker’s towering header before just about getting to the rebound. Forest break from there, but Hudson-Odoi’s shot is straight at Dubravka, and that’ll be it for the first half!

53’ – GOAL! Newcastle 1-2 Nottingham Forest (Wood): Oh. My. Word. What a sensational goal that is from Wood, who has doubled up and put Forest in front! He was put through by a fantastic through ball from Elanga, but the New Zealander still had plenty of work to do. Yet he makes it look easy, skipping beyond one defender with a shrug of the shoulders before he lifts a cute finish over Dubravka.

60’ – GOAL! Newcastle 1-3 Nottingham Forest (Wood): It’s a hat-trick for Wood! Newcastle’s defence is caught all at sea as Wood races in behind their defence to get onto Murillo’s pass. A brilliant first touch sets him up to drag it around the onrushing Dubravka and he slots in his third goal! VAR will check it, but on the first review, it looked like Trippier had kept Wood on! And indeed he had! The right-back didn’t step up with the rest of the defence, and Newcastle are 3-1 down!

73’ – NO PENALTY! Forest are fortunate to come away unscathed after Williams gets caught under Miley’s cross. Isak connected with it and sent a low effort towards the bottom-left corner, but Turner got to it. The rebound falls to Gordon, but his attempt is blocked at point-blank range by Niakhate. The defender’s hand was up, but the ball struck his shoulder, and VAR confirms no spot-kick is needed.

Newcastle: Dubravka 5, Trippier 4, Schar 5, Botman 5, Burn 5, Guimaraes 5, Longstaff 6, Miley 8, Almiron 4, Isak 7, Gordon 5. Subs: Wilson 6, Joelinton 5, Livramento 6, Hall 6.

Nottingham Forest: Turner 7, Montiel 6, Murillo 7, Niakhate 7, Aina 6, Sangare 5, Danilo 6, Hudson-Odoi 6, Gibbs-White 7, Elanga 7, Wood 9. Subs: Dominguez 6, Yates 6, Kouyate 6, Worrall 6, Williams 5.