Nottingham Forest v Newcastle United: Premier League – live

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“G’day again Rob (at the very reasonable K.O. time of 7am),” writes Chris Paraskevas. “My old man’s generation speak of Clough/Taylor’s Forest team with reverence and awe. In 20 years’ time, will I speak with the same reverence about Jonjo Shelvey’s re-interpretation of the holding midfield role? Probably not... but knowing our luck he’ll score a hat-trick against us! At least Henri Lansbury isn’t playing...”

A reminder of the teams, who are about to walk onto the field

Nottingham Forest (possible 4-2-3-1) Navas; Aurier, Felipe, Niakhate, Lodi; Yates, Shelvey; Johnson, Gibbs-White, Dennis; Ayew.
Substitutes: Hennessey, Worrall, Williams, Colback, Toffolo, Surridge, Freuler, Danilo, Scarpa.

Newcastle United (4-3-3) Pope; Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn; Longstaff, Guimaraes, Willock; Murphy, Isak, Saint-Maximin.
Substitutes: Dubravka, Dummett, Lascelles, Wilson, Ritchie, Lewis, Targett, Manquillo, Anderson.

Referee Paul Tierney.

“Hi Rob!” says Joe Pearson. “Writing from the Midwest, where we are beset by overlapping basketball games all day and most of the night, thanks to the behemoth that is the NCAA Tournament.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love the First Round. But it’s just that after a day and a half of wall to wall basketball, I need a break. So a calming display of association football is just what the doctor ordered. Of course, a chaotic pitch invasion would be a change of pace as well. Just saying.”

Pre-match music

This is well worth watching, and not only to see a barnstorming cover-drive from Jamie Carragher.

A win tonight would move Forest up to 12th. Newcastle will stay fifth whatever happens, though they can close the gap on both Spurs and Manchester United.

Remember when

Everyone remember Kevin Keegan’s loss of noggin at Leeds in May 1996, but Newcastle’s game at Forest three days later was even more significant in the title race.

From the archive

Newcastle 4-3 Nottm Forest (match void), FA Cup quarter-final, 9 March 1974

Another famous atmosphere in the north-east, for slightly different reasons. If you thought the sight of generously proportioned Newcastle fans with their belly buttons on show was exclusive to the sophisticatedly affluent Premier League, you were wrong. When Newcastle went 3-1 down, and were reduced to 10 men, against second division Nottingham Forest, a riot started because of what the Observer described as the “chubby strivings” of one particularly magisterial specimen of masculinity. The picture is painted beautifully in Paul Fitzpatrick’s Guardian report:

Only a spark was needed to set alight combustible feelings, and a balding middle-aged looking pugilist provided it. His paunch exposed, his shirt flying, this heavyweight bare-knuckle fighter set his arms flailing like a windmill and at least five policemen were needed to cool his ardour and pin him to the muddy turf. But the damage had been done and the crowd went haring down the pitch to the Gallowgate end.

If this bedraggled champion – with his mad-professor hair and top barely reaching halfway down his protruding stomach as he was led off by the police towards the mother of all hangovers – was comedy gold, what followed certainly wasn’t. There were 39 arrests and 25 people were taken to hospital, two with fractured skulls. Forest’s Dave Serella was punched in the face. The police let the dogs out and the referee took the players off for eight minutes; when they returned, Forest, playing with all the freedom of men with a Messerschmitt up their arse, surrendered feebly. Despite being two goals and one man down, Newcastle recovered to win 4-3.

Even allowing for Forest’s understandable subservience, however, it was astonishing stuff from Newcastle. The Observer said they played with “inextinguishable fervour” amid a “shattering pandemonium”. Bobby Moncur scored a palpably offside winner in the last minute; the linesman, it was said, feared being “lynched” if he raised his flag.

After dithering over a few 15-course buffets, the FA eventually ordered the game to be replayed at Goodison Park. That was drawn 0-0, but Newcastle went through with a 1-0 win in the replay of the replay, also at Goodison. They went all the way to the final, where, in the words of David Coleman’s commentary, they were “absolutely stripped naked” by Liverpool. But they would almost certainly not have got that far were it not for those chubby strivings two months earlier.

Up to eleven

Team news: Brennan Johnson starts

A big boost for Forest, whose talisman Brennan Johnson has recovered from a groin injury and will start the game.

There are four changes from the defeat at Spurs last week, and a possible switch to 4-2-3-1. Moussa Niakhate, Ryan Yates, Emmanuel Dennis and Andre Ayew replace Joe Worrall, Remo Freuler, Orel Mangala and Jesse Lingard.

Newcastle are unchanged, but Miguel Almiron – who came off the bench to score the winner against Wolves – is out with a thigh injury. Anthony Gordon is also injured.

Nottingham Forest (possible 4-2-3-1) Navas; Aurier, Felipe, Niakhate, Lodi; Yates, Shelvey; Johnson, Gibbs-White, Dennis; Ayew.
Substitutes: Hennessey, Worrall, Williams, Colback, Toffolo, Surridge, Freuler, Danilo, Scarpa.

Newcastle United (4-3-3) Pope; Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn; Longstaff, Guimaraes, Willock; Murphy, Isak, Saint-Maximin.
Substitutes: Dubravka, Dummett, Lascelles, Wilson, Ritchie, Lewis, Targett, Manquillo, Anderson.

Referee Paul Tierney.

Preamble

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Nottingham Forest v Newcastle United at the City Ground. When these two met on the opening weekend of the season, they’d have munched your paw off had you offered them 14th and fifth place respectively ahead of the return fixture. But there’s always a but, and here it is.

Forest, four places but only two points above the please-don’t-call-it-the-drop-zone, are still embroiled in a fight for survival. And Newcastle, though ahead of their world-domination schedule, would be in an even better position to qualify for the Champions League were it not for the two-month hibernation that ended with victory over Wolves last Sunday.

Still, both are in reasonable shape as they prepare for the final push after the international break. If Forest maintain their outstanding home form – 17 points from the last nine games – they will stay up, while Newcastle have games in hand on fourth-placed Spurs and are in control of their own destiny.

Yes, that is the MBM cliche klaxon you can hear. ‘In control of their own destiny’ FFS. What happened to this thing?

Kick off 8pm