• Newcastle thrashed Union SG 4-0 away from home in midweek Champions League action

• Forest have lost five and drawn two of their last seven games, conceding 16 goals

• Recommended Bet: Newcastle to win and Over 2.5 Goals

Two of last season’s Premier League top seven, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, will be looking to climb out of the bottom half of the table when they meet at St James’ Park on Sunday.

Eddie Howe’s Magpies produced a dominant display in Europe on Wednesday, sweeping aside Belgian champions Union SG 4-0 with the help of a brace of Anthony Gordon penalties.

But domestically, they have struggled for consistency, picking up just one win in their first six league games and suffering late sucker punches in home defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal.

Forest, meanwhile, remain winless under new boss Ange Postecoglou, with Thursday’s 3-2 Europa League defeat to FC Midtjylland extending their poor run.

The Tricky Trees have lost five of their last seven matches and conceded 16 goals in the process.

The latest Newcastle vs Nottingham Forest odds are available on LiveScore Bet.

Team news

Newcastle’s Yoane Wissa remains out with a similar timescale for his return to action as Tino Livramento, who will miss up to eight weeks with a knee injury he sustained against Arsenal.

Kieran Trippier will, therefore, start in defence alongside Sven Botman, Malick Thiaw and Dan Burn with Howe revealing no fresh problems following the midweek win in Brussels.

Fabian Schar could return for Thiaw and Josh Murphy will also be hoping for a recall on the right-hand side.

That would see Anthony Elanga, who was named player of the match against Union SG, switch flanks or drop down to the bench against his former club.

Meanwhile, Forest’s fortunes took another turn for the worse when star centre-back Murillo had to come off 30 minutes into his comeback game against Midtjylland.

He had been substituted with a thigh problem during Postecoglou’s first game in charge and again left the pitch clutching his thigh.

The Australian could revert to a back four with Nicolo Savona coming in on the right and Nikola Milenkovic partnering Morato in the centre.

Dilane Bakwa is in line to return on the wing with Chris Wood set to be restored at centre forward against his former club.

The latest Newcastle vs Nottingham Forest odds are available on LiveScore Bet.

The stats

Forest have won none of their first three league games under Postecoglou (D1 L2), with Andy Beattie in 1960 the last permanent City Ground boss to win none of his first four in the league (first eight).

The Australian has lost 11 of his last 15 Premier League games as a manager (W1 D3).

Newcastle have won eight of their last nine home league games against Forest.

The Tricky Trees have conceded at least two goals in five of their last seven matches.

Newcastle scored four goals in midweek — the same as their entire Premier League tally so far.

The latest Newcastle vs Nottingham Forest odds are available on LiveScore Bet.

Prediction

Newcastle are picking up momentum and should confidently dispatch a Forest side that were starting to struggle before Postecoglou took the reins.

However, the Aussie’s early tenure has seen Forest become brittle in defence and they continue to concede set-piece goals at an alarming rate.

Newcastle will enjoy a significant height advantage at corners and free-kicks with the likes of Nick Woltemade, Burn, Botman, Joelinton and Thiaw all potential penalty-area dangers. 

But the Magpies are also starting to hit their straps from open play, as Wednesday’s win in Belgium confirmed, and they could score two or more goals at home for the first time since the Liverpool loss. 

Back Newcastle to win and Over 2.5 Goals at 1/1 with LiveScore Bet.

The latest Newcastle vs Nottingham Forest odds are available on LiveScore Bet.