Match ends, Newcastle United 1, Nottingham Forest 3.
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.
- Follow live text commentary of Boxing Day Premier League action
- How did you rate Newcastle's performance? Have your say here
- What did you make of Forest's display? Send us your views here
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
Avg
- Squad number67Player nameMileyAverage rating
4.77
- Squad number14Player nameIsakAverage rating
4.47
- Squad number39Player nameBruno GuimarãesAverage rating
4.03
- Squad number10Player nameGordonAverage rating
3.99
- Squad number1Player nameDúbravkaAverage rating
3.98
- Squad number2Player nameTrippierAverage rating
3.87
- Squad number21Player nameLivramentoAverage rating
3.74
- Squad number4Player nameBotmanAverage rating
3.73
- Squad number5Player nameSchärAverage rating
3.72
- Squad number36Player nameS LongstaffAverage rating
3.50
- Squad number24Player nameAlmirónAverage rating
3.42
- Squad number9Player nameWilsonAverage rating
3.31
- Squad number33Player nameBurnAverage rating
3.31
- Squad number7Player nameJoelintonAverage rating
3.30
- Squad number20Player nameHallAverage rating
3.21
Nottingham Forest
Avg
- Squad number11Player nameWoodAverage rating
9.19
- Squad number21Player nameElangaAverage rating
7.95
- Squad number10Player nameGibbs-WhiteAverage rating
7.89
- Squad number40Player nameMurilloAverage rating
7.64
- Squad number7Player nameN WilliamsAverage rating
7.60
- Squad number22Player nameYatesAverage rating
7.56
- Squad number4Player nameWorrallAverage rating
7.50
- Squad number14Player nameHudson-OdoiAverage rating
7.38
- Squad number29Player nameMontielAverage rating
7.30
- Squad number16Player nameDomínguezAverage rating
7.23
- Squad number19Player nameNiakhatéAverage rating
7.18
- Squad number8Player nameKouyatéAverage rating
7.16
- Squad number6Player nameSangaréAverage rating
7.15
- Squad number1Player nameTurnerAverage rating
7.10
- Squad number43Player nameAinaAverage rating
7.02
- Squad number28Player nameDaniloAverage rating
6.93
- Old Harry's Game welcomes you to the infernal kingdom of Hell: Andy Hamilton's devilish comedy
- Can they ignore the politics to get to the truth? Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie return for the second series of the tense thriller, Vigil
Line-ups
Newcastle
Formation 4-3-3
- 1Dúbravka
- 2Trippier
- 5SchärBooked at 88mins
- 4BotmanSubstituted forHallat 79'minutes
- 33BurnSubstituted forLivramentoat 55'minutes
- 67Miley
- 39Bruno GuimarãesBooked at 85mins
- 36S LongstaffSubstituted forJoelintonat 71'minutes
- 24AlmirónSubstituted forWilsonat 55'minutes
- 14Isak
- 10GordonBooked at 27mins
Substitutes
- 3Dummett
- 7Joelinton
- 9Wilson
- 11Ritchie
- 17Krafth
- 18Karius
- 20Hall
- 21Livramento
- 54Murphy
Nottm Forest
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 1Turner
- 29MontielBooked at 27minsSubstituted forN Williamsat 70'minutesBooked at 84mins
- 19Niakhaté
- 40Santiago Costa dos Santos
- 43Aina
- 28DaniloSubstituted forKouyatéat 90'minutes
- 6SangaréBooked at 26minsSubstituted forYatesat 70'minutes
- 21ElangaSubstituted forWorrallat 90'minutes
- 10Gibbs-White
- 14Hudson-OdoiSubstituted forDomínguezat 79'minutes
- 11Wood
Substitutes
- 3Tavares
- 4Worrall
- 5Mangala
- 7N Williams
- 8Kouyaté
- 16Domínguez
- 22Yates
- 23Vlachodimos
- 27Origi
- Referee:
- Chris Kavanagh
- Attendance:
- 52,207
Match Stats
- Possession
- Home62%
- Away38%
- Shots
- Home19
- Away15
- Shots on Target
- Home7
- Away6
- Corners
- Home10
- Away2
- Fouls
- Home10
- Away11
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Newcastle United 1, Nottingham Forest 3.
Post update
Corner, Newcastle United. Conceded by Joe Worrall.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Post update
Attempt saved. Alexander Isak (Newcastle United) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Post update
Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Post update
Foul by Moussa Niakhaté (Nottingham Forest).
Substitution
Substitution, Nottingham Forest. Joe Worrall replaces Anthony Elanga.
Substitution
Substitution, Nottingham Forest. Cheikhou Kouyaté replaces Danilo.
Post update
Tino Livramento (Newcastle United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Foul by Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest).
Booking
Fabian Schär (Newcastle United) is shown the yellow card.
Post update
Foul by Fabian Schär (Newcastle United).
Post update
Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Booking
Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Post update
Foul by Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle United).
Post update
Ryan Yates (Nottingham Forest) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Booking
Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest) is shown the yellow card.
Post update
Corner, Newcastle United. Conceded by Ola Aina.
Post update
Foul by Joelinton (Newcastle United).
Comments
Join the conversation
Now it's Liverpool away, City at home, Villa away. I guess anything we get from those three games will be a bonus now.
Well played Forest and Chris Wood! Definitely not the injuries today, just good players playing poorly.
Wood finishing like he was prime Messi was a surprise and Forest well worth their win.
Newcastle look very leggy and short of confidence so early in the season.
I'm not sure they will get back to how they were performing last season and earlier this one.
Forest fans had some great chants too
sore loser, no wonder no other managers speak to him. Well done Forest, carry on playing like that and you'll easily stay up.
Well played Forrest.
A master class in how to school a team.
That said, good to see Isak was well enough to take the penalty having hit the ground like he'd been shot only seconds earlier.
Newcasaudi will no doubt bleat about injuries but they had the lion's share of the play but no quality.
Elanga gets it wrong at times, but what an asset he is proving and a bargain in today’s market. He is still young and learning, but has genuine potential. Things happen when he has the ball.
Woods played a blinder.
The Saudi's only goal came from what used to be called cheating when football was football.
The best possible start to the Boxing Day fixtures.