Nottingham Forest will finally end their 23-year wait for top-flight football when they face Newcastle United at St. James’ Park on Saturday afternoon.
Just over two months ago, Forest gained promotion from the Championship via the play-offs. Now, the two-time European Cup winners are ready take on England’s top sides once again.
🗣 “We’re looking forward to a good season ahead.”⚫️⚪️— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) July 30, 2022
🗣 “We’re looking forward to a good season ahead.”⚫️⚪️
It’s an exciting era for Newcastle, too, as they prepare for their first full season under Eddie Howe. Can the Magpies pick up where they left off last term?
Newcastle kicked off the previous campaign with a 14-game winless run and only managed to pick up one victory across their opening 20 encounters.
However, the appointment of Howe changed everything. The Magpies won 12 of their final 18 games to climb to eleventh – two points outside the top half.
Newcastle were especially strong on home soil towards the end of last season, losing just one of their final ten Premier League clashes at St. James’ Park.
If Howe’s men can pick up where they left off last term, they could find themselves challenging for European football come the end of the 2022/23 campaign.
On the flip side, Forest’s main aim will be to stay in the Premier League after spending more than two decades away from the top tier of English football.
Like Newcastle, Forest endured a dreadful start to the previous campaign before benefitting from a mid-season managerial change.
After losing six of their opening seven games, the Tricky Trees swapped Chris Hughton for Steve Cooper. Under Cooper, they won ten of their final 14 games to finish fourth.
Having beaten Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the play-off final at Wembley, Forest will be brimming with belief. However, they won’t find life easy in the Premier League.
Head-to-head: Newcastle and Forest faced each other seven times between 2009 and 2018. Both sides claimed three wins, with the other game ending in a draw.
Each of the previous five meetings produced over 2.5 goals, meaning we should see plenty of action on Saturday.
Team news: Newcastle pair Jonjo Shelvey and Javier Manquillo look set to miss the start of the season through injury. Jamal Lewis is also a doubt for the opening game.
As for Forest, Omar Richards is sidelined due to injury. High-profile newcomers such as Jesse Lingard, Neco Williams and Dean Henderson are in line to make their competitive debuts for the club.
Although Forest will be confident of causing an opening-day upset, the trip to St. James’ Park could prove to be a baptism of fire.
Forebet predicts that Newcastle will kick off their campaign with a win, scoring over 2.5 goals en route to victory.