Key stats
- Nottingham Forest are undefeated in their last eight games in the Premier League, their last joint longest unbeaten streak was from 7th December 2024 to 19th January 2025.
- The draw ends a run of four consecutive victories for Newcastle against Forest, dating back to February 2024.
- Newcastle have conceded 20 goals in the last 15 minutes of the second half, more than any other team in the Premier League this season.
Highlights
Match report
On the receiving end of a 4-0 UEFA Europa League thumping that saw them eliminated by Aston Villa in midweek, Forest’s attention returned to PL survival here. In their way stood a Newcastle side who had recently ended a four-game losing streak but were starting the day 18 points worse off than they were at this stage last season.
Nonetheless, the Magpies made a bright start to proceedings, pinning Forest back and regularly threatening down the right flank, albeit without carving out a clear-cut chance.
Unimpressed with what he had seen in the opening quarter of the match, Vítor Pereira opted for a change of system, reverting to the 4-4-2 formation that had brought recent success.
That adjustment shifted the momentum in the hosts’ favour, with Dilane Bakwa causing panic in the Magpies’ backline on a couple of occasions, most notably when his cross forced Nick Pope into a mistake that almost saw Jair Cunha turn in a loose ball.
However, the best opportunity of the first half came at the other end, as Nick Woltemade teed up William Osula, whose low driven effort was swiftly closed down by Matz Sels before the break.
After the interval, a speculative Bruno Guimarães free-kick attempt drifted marginally wide as Newcastle looked to add to a league-low tally of just four second-half away goals this campaign.
Making just his third league start of the season, Taiwo Awoniyi showed his strength to muscle past Sven Botman and force a stop from Pope, shortly before his opposite number had to produce two saves in quick succession to deny Guimarães.
With Newcastle once again in the ascendancy, Osula struck the crossbar from a free-kick, shortly before substitute Harvey Barnes latched onto a delicate Jacob Ramsey through ball and dispatched clinically beyond Sels’ reach.
Forest pressed for a response, and with 88 minutes on the clock, a quick exchange between James McAtee and Elliot Anderson saw the latter fire home from a tight angle against his boyhood club to level the scores.
That proved to be the last meaningful action, leaving Forest with just one win in 16 PL H2Hs (D4, L11), but that will be of little concern to the home support, who will be satisfied with a point here, knowing they could be safe before the weekend is out if West Ham United lose to league leaders Arsenal.
As for Eddie Howe’s side, a top-half finish looks to be the best they can realistically hope for, having now mathematically put any risk of an improbable relegation to bed with this result.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)
Post-match comments
Nottingham Forest goalscorer Elliot Anderson says his he and his teammates have "fought for each other" in their bid for Premier League survival.
"Massive," he told Sky Sports of his side's draw. "We knew going into these last few games it's important to pick up points and finish on a high.
"It's a good point considering I don't think we were at our best today. But when you're not at your best it's about not losing points and we've picked one good one up."
Asked if his goal against his former club meant a lot to him, Anderson said: "It did - a few things going on recently so it felt really nice.
"We've made a U-turn and done really well. The manager is brilliant and we're all behind him. Tough game in midweek but we'll bounce back and now focus on the league.
"One thing the manager said is that this group is full of fighters. Four managers; it's not been easy but we've all stuck together and fought for each other."
Newcastle forward Harvey Barnes, meanwhile, was left to rue the goal from a man who used to ply his trade for the club.
"We had a few good years with him here and he played well today and ultimately scored the goal that levelled the game," he told BBC Radio 5 Live. "Nice to see him doing well but not when we're playing against him."
Barnes, who opened the scoring, said it was difficult to identify why Newcastle kept conceding late goals.
"It has been the story of the season, late in games sinking in, conceding pressure and ultimately conceding goals, and that has cost us today," he continued.
"When we go ahead in games it's something that we've not dealt with well enough. We start to look nervy and lose the confidence to go and get another goal and ultimately just try to defend the lead which we haven't done well enough.
"It's hard to put your finger on exactly why, maybe a bit of fatigue towards the end of games, and then when it happens once or twice then the confidence drops. Dropping back is not an instruction, it is just something that seems to creep into our game and it is something we've got to stop doing."