Newcastle 4-3 Nottingham Forest: Alexander Isak scores twice as Magpies move up to fifth in Premier League

Newcastle scored four goals in 11 first-half minutes as they edged a seven-goal thriller against Nottingham Forest to boost their Champions League qualification hopes with a 4-3 home win.

Forest took a sixth-minute lead through Callum Hudson-Odoi but Lewis Miley’s 23rd-minute equaliser sparked a Newcastle flurry as Jacob Murphy completed the comeback two minutes later followed by Alexander Isak’s double, which saw him reach 50 Premier League goals.

But Forest threatened a stunning second-half comeback as Nikola Milenkovic pulled one back in the 63rd minute before Ryan Yates hit a 90th-minute goal as Newcastle survived a nervy ending to move up to fifth in the Premier League and level on points with fourth-placed Manchester City.

Forest, who remain third but are now only three points ahead of Newcastle, made a fast start at St James’ Park as Hudson-Odoi capitalised on Murphy’s error to fire in from outside the box.

But on his first Premier League start of the season, Miley struck a low leveller before Murphy atoned for his error by bundling home Newcastle’s second two and a half minutes later.

The Magpies were then awarded a penalty after VAR sent referee Jarred Gillett to the pitchside monitor following an Ola Aina handball, and Isak converted the 33rd-minute spot-kick.

The Sweden international scored his second 111 seconds later with a cool one-on-one finish seeing him reach 50 Premier League goals in just 76 appearances – only six players in the competition’s history have hit that tally faster – while it was his 19th Premier League goal of the season, with only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (24) netting more.

Newcastle, however, took their foot off the gas in the second half as they failed to have a shot on target, allowing Forest to get themselves back into it as Milenkovic hooked home before Yates’ low finish set up a tense finish.

But Forest could not find a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser as they lost three straight away league games for the first time since December 2023.

Story of the match in stats…

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