NEWCASTLE: Newcastle blew Nottingham Forest away with four goals in 11 minutes as Alexander Isak’s double inspired a vital 4-3 win in the race to finish in the Premier League’s top four.
Eddie Howe’s side recovered from Callum Hudson-Odoi’s early opener to run riot with a first half goal spree at St. James’ Park on Sunday.
Lewis Miley bagged Newcastle’s equalizer, sparking an astonishing spell of dominance as Jacob Murphy put the hosts ahead.
Isak netted twice in less than two minutes to reach 50 Premier League goals and leave Forest in tatters.
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.
Nikola Milenkovic and Ryan Yates scored for Forest in the second half, but it was too late for an incredible escape act.
After three defeats in their previous four league games, fifth-placed Newcastle are back in the hunt to qualify for next season’s Champions League via a top four finish.
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.
“It was a great performance in the first half, then a couple of frailties showed in terms of defending set plays.
“We can reflect on that. There are things we can do better. We pride ourselves on getting the details right.”
Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo added: “In the first half I didn’t recognize our team. In the second half we were much better.
“We made mistakes. It was two totally different halves. We started well and then they just rolled over us.”
Newcastle keeper Nick Pope made his first league start since early December in place of Martin Dubravka.
But Pope was partially at fault as Newcastle gifted Forest the lead in sloppy style after just six minutes
Jacob Murphy lost the ball in his own half as Hudson-Odoi pressured the Newcastle midfielder into conceding possession.
Hudson-Odoi wasn’t closed down quickly enough by Dan Burn and the winger unloaded a powerful low drive that caught Pope out of position as it flashed into the net.
Miley ensured Newcastle’s strong response to that early setback was rewarded in the 23rd minute.
With Forest’s usually rock-solid defense slow to react, Miley had time to control Lewis Hall’s pass inside the penalty area and drill his shot through a sea of legs past unsighted keeper Matz Sels.
Murphy made amends for his earlier mistake to put Howe’s team ahead two minutes after Miley’s equalizer.
Hall’s driving run was the catalyst as the defender took Isak’s return pass and hit a deflected cross that looped over Sels for Murphy to bundle home from virtually on the goal-line.
Newcastle were firing on all cylinders and they struck again in the 33rd minute.
Ola Aina used his arm to block Hall’s cross, conceding a penalty that Isak dispatched past Sels with an audacious lofted effort that left the keeper sprawled on his back as he tried in vain to claw it out.
Forest had no answer to Newcastle’s intensity and it was no surprise when they conceded a fourth just 60 seconds later.
Joe Willock raced unchecked through the Forest midfield and slipped his pass to Isak, whose shot from 12 yards took a deflection on its way past the wrong-footed Sels.
Newcastle eased up in the second half and Milenkovic reduced the deficit in the 63rd minute, flicking Chris Wood’s cross past Pope from close-range.
When Yates steered home in the 90th minute, a nervous hush descended on St. James’ Park, but Newcastle held on by their fingernails.
Nottm Forest felled by Isak as Newcastle bolster top four bid
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Nottm Forest felled by Isak as Newcastle bolster top four bid
- Eddie Howe’s side recovered from Callum Hudson-Odoi’s early opener to run riot
France qualify for 2026 World Cup; Ronaldo sent off as Portugal lose to Ireland
- Two goals from star striker Mbappe helped two-time champions France to qualify with a 4-0 home win against Ukraine on Thursday
- Ronaldo will serve a mandatory one-game ban imposed for any red card when Portugal play Armenia
- Erling Haaland scored twice as Norway moved closer to qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1998 by beating Estonia 4-1 in Oslo
LONDON: Kylian Mbappe and France are going to the 2026 World Cup. And Cristiano Ronaldo might be banned from Portugal’s first game there if his team finally win their European qualifying group.
Two goals from star striker Mbappe helped two-time champion France to qualify with a 4-0 home win against Ukraine on Thursday. But Ronaldo was ejected for the first time in his international career and Portugal will have to wait until Sunday to secure a qualifying spot for the seventh straight time after it was stunned 2-0 by Ireland in Dublin.
Midfielder Michael Olize and substitute forward Hugo Ekitike added the other goals in a dominant second half from France, the World Cup runner-up in 2022.
Mbappe sent the penalty straight down the middle to break the deadlock in the 55th minute before Olize turned inside the penalty area to curl home the second goal in the 76th at Parc des Princes in western Paris. Mbappé poked in France’s third goal from close range in the 83rd following a goal-mouth scramble. Mbappe moved onto 55 goals and just two behind Olivier Giroud as France’s all-time top scorer.
“The French national team will always be better with him in it,” coach Didier Deschamps said about Mbappé. “He makes things easier for us. He performed his role perfectly this evening, as both a player and the captain of the national team.”
Mbappe went close to a hat trick moments later but blazed over after going clean through.
France have won Group D with 13 points, Ukraine and Iceland are tied on seven points and will play for second place when they meet on Sunday.
Ronaldo’s 1st international red card
Portugal will host last-place Armenia in the final qualifying game on Sunday, when Hungary host Ireland at the same time.
Portugal top Group F with 10 points, two ahead of Hungary. Ireland are third with seven points.
Ronaldo was sent off for elbowing Ireland defender Dara O’Shea on the hour. The referee issued a yellow card but minutes later upgraded it to red after a video review.
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said he thought the ejection was “a bit harsh,” pointing out that Ronaldo “has never been sent off before in 226 games.”
Ronaldo will serve a mandatory one-game ban imposed for any red card when Portugal play Armenia. FIFA disciplinary rules require its judges to impose a ban of “at least two matches for serious foul play.”
Troy Parrott put the hosts ahead with a close-range header following a corner kick in the 17th minute against the run of play with Portugal dominant. Parrott added his second in the final minute before the break, beating Diogo Costa with a low shot from inside the area.
Haaland’s double
Erling Haaland scored twice as Norway moved closer to qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1998 by beating Estonia 4-1 in Oslo.
The win virtually secures a spot for the high-scoring Norwegians in next year’s tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Italy had to rely on late goals from Gianluca Mancini and substitute Francesco Pio Esposito to win 2-0 at Moldova and is second in Group I, trailing leader Norway by three points.
Italy will likely have to settle for the playoffs where the four-time World Cup champions were eliminated in the past two editions. They host Norway on Sunday and would have to win by a nine-goal margin to directly qualify because of Norway’s vastly superior goal difference.
Haaland has scored 14 of Norway’s European-best 33 goals in seven group-stage games. The Manchester City striker was born two years after Norway last reached the World Cup.
Still perfect England
Already-qualified England continued to cruise.
They beat Serbia 2-0 at Wembley Stadium to keep a perfect record in Group K and are yet to concede a goal.
Bukayo Saka fired England ahead on a rebound with a left-foot volley in the 28th after an initial shot by Nico O’Reilly was blocked. Substitute forward Eberechi Eze added the second in the 90th off a pass from another substitute, Phil Foden.
Albania beat Andorra 1-0 in the same group to secure the runner-up spot.
