With four goals in 11 minutes, Newcastle blew away Nottingham Forest to move into the top four of the Premier League with a crucial 4-3 victory.
After Callum Hudson-Odoi’s opening goal, Eddie Howe’s men won the match with a first-half goal slam on Sunday at St James’ Park.
Lewis Miley bagged Newcastle’s equaliser, sparking an astonishing spell of dominance as Jacob Murphy put the hosts ahead.
In less than two minutes, Isak scored twice to leave Forest in disarray with 50 Premier League goals.
The Sweden striker has 19 league goals this season, taking him level with Manchester City’s Erling Haaland in second place behind Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah in this season’s scoring chart.
In the second half, Forest scored goals from Nikola Milenkovic and Ryan Yates, but the result was a spectacular escape.
Fifth-placed Newcastle are now in the hunt for a place in the Champions League after falling behind in their previous four league games by three goals.
The Magpies are behind fourth-placed Manchester City on goal difference, with third-placed Forest just three points above them.
“I’m trying to control my thoughts and stay positive. We won the game and that’s what we needed to do”, Howe said.
“In the first half, it was a fantastic performance, but there were some weaknesses in the defense of set plays.”
” We can reflect on that. There are things we can do better. We take great care to get the details right.
Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo added:” In the first half I didn’t recognise our team. We significantly improved in the second half.
“We made mistakes. Two completely different halves, exactly. They just rolled over us as we got going.
Nick Pope, the starting keeper for Newcastle since early December, replaced Martin Dubravka in his first league start.
However, Pope was partially responsible for Newcastle’s shoddy performance in which Forest took the lead after just six minutes.
Hudson-Odoi pressured the Newcastle midfielder into giving up possession by forcing him to lose the ball in his own half.
The winger unleashed a powerful low drive that caught Pope out of position as it flashed into the net, but the Hudson-Odoi wasn’t quickly enough shut down by Dan Burn.
Miley ensured Newcastle’s strong response to that early setback was rewarded in the 23rd minute.
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 , Newcastle hold on ,
Miley had time to control Lewis Hall’s pass inside the penalty area and fire his shot past unsighted keeper Matz Sels while Forest’s typically solid defense was slow to react.
Murphy made amends for his earlier mistake to put Howe’s team ahead two minutes after Miley’s equaliser.
The defender took Isak’s return pass and deflected a cross that fell over Sels, who had just about hit the goal-line, to score a deflected shot that Murphy bundled home from almost the end zone.
Newcastle were on fire, and they struck once more in the 33rd minute.
Isak sent an audacious lofted effort past Sels, who was forced to use his arm to block Hall’s cross, which resulted in the keeper being forced to try in vain to get it out.
Newcastle’s intensity was unbearable, and Forest didn’t come away with a fourth goal until just 60 seconds later.
Isak’s shot from 12 yards had a deflection on its way past the wrong-footed Sels, but Joe Willock ran unchecked through the Forest midfield.
In the 63rd minute, Milenkovic flicked Chris Wood’s cross past Pope from close range, and Newcastle grew in the second half.
When Yates steered home in the 90th minute, a nervous hush descended on St James ‘ Park, but Newcastle held on by their fingernails.
Source: Channels TV
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