Chris Wood hat-trick fires Nottingham Forest to victory at struggling Newcastle

Talk about being haunted by a ghost of Christmas past. As Chris Wood’s accomplished hat-trick reminded Eddie Howe why, not so long ago, he persuaded Newcastle’s owners to invest £25m in his attacking talent, Nuno Espírito Santo inspired confidence he can keep Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.

Nuno’s first win since succeeding Steve Cooper last week confirmed that this is turning into an extremely bleak midwinter for Howe. One by one the wheels have fallen off the Newcastle manager’s injury-hit wagon in recent weeks. His team have now lost six of their last seven games in all competitions and have been beaten in four of their past five league fixtures.

Here Newcastle had no answer to Forest’s counterattacking pace and, shortly before half-time, could offer no resistance to Morgan Gibbs-White’s angled pass, let alone a typically slick low cross from the outstanding Anthony Elanga.

All that remained was for Wood to apply the finishing, equalising, touch as Nuno’s side confirmed they were not about to fold after Alexander Isak’s earlier opener.

That goal came from a penalty awarded in the wake of Lewis Miley’s gorgeous rolled pass towards Isak and Ola Aina’s subsequent trip on the Sweden striker. Once a VAR review had endorsed Chris Kavanagh’s original decision, Isak stepped forward to beat Matt Turner from the spot.

Alexander Isak puts Newcastle ahead from the penalty spot. Photograph: Richard Lee/Shutterstock

Elanga’s capacity for torturing Dan Burn very nearly saw Forest assume the lead within seconds of the second half but, perhaps a little startled by the sheer speed and velocity of the Sweden winger’s latest cross, Gibbs-White headed fractionally wide.

Wood swiftly offered Howe another reminder of what he has lost, when he met a subtly curving Elanga pass and tricked Burn by shaping to shoot before dodging the wrongfooted defender and lifting the ball imperiously over Martin Dubravka.

The New Zealand centre-forward was still not quite done. When a combination of Murillo’s through ball and Kieran Trippier’s misjudgement in playing him onside left Wood with only Dubravka to beat, he responded by shuffling the ball between his feet before rounding the keeper and guiding the ball into the empty net.

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If, on this compelling evidence, it was very difficult to see why Manchester United offloaded a player as electric as Elanga, it was all too easy to appreciate why Newcastle’s club captain, Jamaal Lascelles, used his column in the matchday programme to stress that Howe’s dressing room retained considerable respect for their old friend and “top guy” Wood.