Newcastle United survived an early scare in Nottingham to mount a dominant 3-1 comeback win against Forest.
Forest were denied a Premier League win for the first time in almost a month following defeat after three straight wins against Crystal Palace, Leicester and West Ham.
That form has the Reds flirting with a place in Europe and the hosts couldn’t have got off to a better start as Murillo headed Anthony Elanga’s free-kick home to bag his first for the club.
Out of the interval it was all about Newcastle who delivered a classy display in the second half, with the fire lit by Alexander Isak after 55 minutes with his fourth goal in four games.
The visitors were in front shortly after the 70-minute mark, this time it was Joelinton with an impressive curling effort on his weaker left foot to beat the outstretched Matz Sels.
Inside the final ten minutes, Harvey Barnes put the cherry on top with a trademark cut inside and finish to bag his first goal since September 21st.
WATCH: Nottingham Forest 1-3 Newcastle Highlights
According to the best football betting sites, oddsmakers don’t envision Forest staying around the top four for much longer – priced at 20/1 for a Champions League place this season.
Newcastle are a shorter 6/1 to finish in the top four after Sunday’s win, which leaves Eddie Howe’s side eighth in the league on 18 points – one behind Forest.
This was quite the statement performance from Joelinton, who was quoted telling Newcastle fans, “I want to win something and write my name in the history of this club,” earlier this week.
Howe described the player as ‘gold dust’ in his post-match press conference with Sky Sports, which seems a fair comparison at the minute.
The Magpies secured a third win on the trot in all competitions after beating London clubs Chelsea 2-0 in the EFL Cup and Arsenal 1-0 in the league last weekend.
