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Since returning from injury, Bruno Guimaraes has had a shot in all three of his appearances, taking his average for the season to 1.46 attempts at goal per 90. The passionate Brazilian has been linked with a move away from Tyneside in recent weeks and will want to leave his mark on Magpies fans, and so if there is only a few games left for him in a black and white shirt, he will be looking to get on the scoresheet at least once more. 

Forest have a six-point gap to the drop zone with three games to go, and so we may well see Vitor Pereira rotate the majority of his line-up as he did last time out at Chelsea. In any case, Forest have conceded 11.53 shots per game at the City Ground this season, and if Newcastle can manage a similar number, Guimaraes should be involved. 

If Newcastle are to get plenty of joy in attack, they’ll also, no doubt, be focused on set pieces as only four sides have scored more from such situations this season. Dan Burn has been a focal point for dead ball situations in recent weeks, and capped a spell of five shots in his last three games by netting against his old club Brighton last time out.

By contrast, Forest have struggled to defend restarts all season, conceding the 5th most shots from them in the division at 4.34 per game. In the reverse fixture, Newcastle created 1.02 expected goals from set plays, and so Eddie Howe is clearly capable of exploiting this Forest fragility.

Nottingham Forest’s impressive Europa League run ended on Wednesday night, as they lost 4-0 at Villa Park. It was a disappointing result, and Vitor Pereira’s side will now be fully focused on Premier League proceedings - they are six points above the bottom three, so are not safe just yet. Nicolas Dominguez looks set to partner Elliot Anderson in midfield, and the pair could have a difficult time against Newcastle here. 

Bruno Guimaraes has returned to first team action, and, immediately, the Magpies have looked much better. The Brazilian has drawn 10 fouls in his three appearances since returning from injury, meaning he is now averaging 2.37 fouls drawn per 90 across all competitions this season - he should find duels against Dominguez in midfield here. 

The Argentina international is averaging 1.58 fouls per 90 at the City Ground this season, and he committed two fouls and was booked on his last appearance against Newcastle.

Will Osula has found some form at the end of the season following an overall frustrating campaign in which he was third choice at Newcastle behind Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade, who have both failed to deliver in replacing Alexander Isak.

I really like Osula, I think some of the early criticism against him was harsh, as he’s only 22. He’s also effective away from the penalty box, with his physical profile actually being quite similar to Isak. He’s netted five goals across his five starts in the Premier League this season, with three of those goals coming across his last four matches.

He’s had 16 shots across these five starts (2.44 per 90), which is a promising early shot volume, and has seen nine of those attempts find the target (1.38 per 90). He had four shots in Newcastle’s 3-1 win over Brighton last time out, seeing two of those efforts find the target and one end up in the back of the net.

It’s really important for Newcastle that Bruno Guimaraes has returned to fitness, as they were really beginning to spiral in his absence. He grabbed an assist in Newcastle’s win over Brighton at St James’ Park last time out, managing one shot, and crucially played ahead of Sandro Tonali alongside Joe Willock.

Newcastle’s win percentage without Bruno Guimaraes drops off a cliff, so it’s no surprise that his return broke a losing run of five consecutive games for Eddie Howe’s side. No Newcastle player has scored more goals in the Premier League this season than Bruno Guimaraes (nine), which reflects pretty poorly on the £100 million+ duo that Newcastle brought in over the summer, but is positive for our selection here.

Guimaraes has taken 35 shots across his 24 starts in the Premier League this season (1.43 per 90), and took two shots when the sides met earlier in the season - finding the back of the net with one of those efforts. Guimaraes also had three efforts in Newcastle’s most recent trip to the City Ground, with Newcastle coming away 3-1 winners in that game.

Elliot Anderson was hauled down on five separate occasions when the sides met earlier in the season, accounting for 31% of the total fouls that Newcastle committed in that game (16).

Elliot Anderson has always been quite strong when it comes to winning fouls due to how many touches he has (88.5 per 90), as well as his ability to push through line-breaking passes. He’s won 74 fouls across his 34 starts in the Premier League this season - working out to an average of 2.16 fouls won per 90.

Anderson will resume battle with Bruno Guimaraes here (1.47 fouls per 90), as well as contest duels against Joelinton (2.08 fouls per 90) and Sandro Tonali (0.86 fouls per 90), so there are plenty of candidates in the Newcastle midfield who can haul down Anderson as he attempts to progress Forest up the pitch.

Forest managed to draw four saves from Nick Pope earlier in the campaign, with Forest falling to a 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park in that game.

Forest have improved in the final third under Vitor Pereira, their dismal display in the second leg of the Europa League semi-final aside, and still have a bit of work to do to ensure that they don’t face the drop down to the Championship. Forest are six points clear of the drop zone, and notably play before Leeds, Tottenham and West Ham this weekend - so they could secure safety if some results go their way.

Pope was called into action on three occasions in Newcastle’s 3-1 win over Brighton last time out, and I’d expect him to be tested at least twice, coming in below his average for the season, against a Forest side who are still pushing for survival.

Bruno Guimaraes is so crucial to Newcastle, I’d be worried if they lost him in the summer - which is the situation for a few of Newcastle’s stars as the club has stalled this season and not really given their supporters too much to be optimistic about, especially when it comes to recruitment and the overall vision for this side under Eddie Howe.

Bruno Guimaraes has registered more goal contributions than any other Newcastle player this season (14 - nine goals, five assists), and has managed this tally despite being unavailable for the first few months of 2026 due to injury. This tally shows how important Guimares is to Newcastle, and he picked up an assist as he helped Eddie Howe’s side end a losing run of five consecutive games against Brighton last time out. 

The Brazilian has a pretty decent personal record against Nottingham Forest too, having scored in the most recent head-to-head meeting between the sides at St James’ Park, as well as having three attempts when Newcastle last visited the City Ground.

Only Joelinton (10) has picked up more yellow cards for Newcastle in the Premier League this season than Dan Burn (nine). 

Burn should line up at left back here, with Newcastle once again struggling with injuries in the full back areas, and this is where he has picked up most of his cautions this season as he battles with wingers that often have greater mobility and speed when compared to the defender. 

He’ll be up against either Dilane Bakwa (2.31 fouls won per 90), or Omari Hutchinson (1.37 fouls won per 90), with both players having that description of just being a bit more agile than Burn in those 1v1 battles. 

Burn has picked up a yellow card in each of his last two Premier League matches against Brighton and Arsenal, and should be in line to be tested quite regularly down that side of the pitch by either Hutchinson or Bakwa, who can both cause him real issues.

Only Elliot Anderson (seven) has picked up more yellow cards in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest this season than Neco Williams (six). He’s a versatile player who can play in both full back roles, but this constant movement between positions means that Williams can often be caught out of position - as he was a few times in Forest’s bruising 4-0 defeat to Villa in the Europa League during the week.

Williams has also picked up a red card this season, taking his overall tally to seven cautions across 33 starts in the Premier League. Williams picked up seven cautions across 28 starts in the Premier League last season, too, so this is a pretty consistent part of his game, which is interesting, only supported by a foul average of 0.86 per 90, suggesting that the fouls Williams does commit tend to be ones worthy of a caution.