Newcastlevs.Nott'm Forest

The ex-Chelsea man was able to come off the bench in last weekend's 2-1 loss to Fulham after recovering from a knock, and head coach Nuno Espirito Santo should now be considering a system switch with Hudson-Odoi back in contention.

Santo lined up with three central defenders at Craven Cottage - introducing Morato alongside the established pairing of Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic - but the 23-year-old should be sacrificed as his manager reverts to a 4-2-3-1 shape.

Hudson-Odoi is primed to rejoin Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White as part of the supporting cast for Chris Wood, who is now on 18 Premier League goals for the season and memorably struck a wonderful hat-trick in Forest's last trip to St James' Park on Boxing Day 2023.

Danilo has played his way back into the midfield reckoning following his return from injury, meanwhile, so the Brazilian could link arms with ex-Newcastle lynchpin Elliot Anderson once again.

While Morato should be restricted to a watching brief, the remainder of Santo's backline is surely safe, as Ola Aina and Neco Williams also line up in front of Golden Glove-chasing Matz Sels.

Taiwo Awoniyi (nose) and Carlos Miguel (hamstring) are the Garibaldi's only injury concerns for gameweek 26.

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:

Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Danilo, Anderson; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood

Written by

Ben Knapton