Newcastle United host Nottingham Forest at St. James' Park on Sunday, looking to recover from a 4-0 defeat to Manchester City and halt a two-match losing streak in the Premier League.

Eddie Howe's side have lost three of their last four league games, with their only victory in that stretch coming against Southampton, and a very daunting challenge in front of them and more looming on the horizon.

Newcastle have not lost three consecutive home league matches since February 2021, the year of PIF arrival, and in a positive bit of news, the Magpies' last meeting with Nott Forest resulted in a 3-1 win at the City Ground last November -- though it must be noted they lost 3-1 at home in this fixture last season.

Forest, third in the league (yes, you read that right), are coming off a 2-1 defeat at Fulham. Former missused Magpie Chris Wood, who scored a hat-trick in their win at St. James' Park last season, netted his 18th league goal of the campaign in that match.

Nuno Espírito Santo's side has lost their last two away league games, however, but they have not suffered three straight on-the-road defeats since December 2023.

Newcastle remains without Joelinton, Jamaal Lascelles, and Sven Botman due to injury. Alexander Isak, who has scored in all three of his appearances against Forest, is expected to lead the attack in another attempt to keep climbing up the goalscoring ranks.

Isak better come packed full of goals today, because the Magpies dearly need points to keep their hopes for a top-five finish alive entering the home stretch of the season. Here's hoping!

"Nottingham Forest have been excellent on the road this year. They have a style and a system that is very hard to play against.

"For us, I want to see a much more vibrant performance. I want to see us attack, be very much ourselves, see our attacking players expressing themselves, and hopefully returning to our very best."

On Sven Botman's fitness...

"I don't think he will be available for this weekend, we will have to see how things stand, he is making progress, good progress, he is very much on track but not quite there yet."

On Joelinton's ongoing recovery from injury...

"He's doing well - he's pushing, as joe always does. We just need to be sure that we introduce him at the right time."

On Dúbravka and Krafth's new deals...

"I'm very pleased to sign Martin to a new contract... It was important that we didn't destabilise the group with a departure in a position that we couldn't afford to lose.

"(On) Emil, his character and attitude stands out - his versatility and ability to play different roles, whenever he has played this year, he has been very good. He fully deserves his contract."

On his side's mindset and approach...

"The attitude to training is very good. The attitude and hunger is there to put the last performance to bed and put it right.

"We have very strong characters behind the team, a very strong attitude to represent the club in the right way, and I think that is at our heart and is one of our biggest strengths.

"Then there is really strong leadership within the player group - they know the expectations that they need to reach. We didn't do that as a group last week, but there is really strong will to come back and fight back."