Why Newcastle United must respect but not fear Forest despite Anfield success

A climate change has sparked an unexpected Forest fire in Robin Hood country. But how good are Nottingham's big brothers? Are they punching above their weight or are they emerging as a genuine but suprising threat to the established? We might be about to get our answer when Newcastle United rock up this weekend.

Three who flew the Magpie nest are at the epicentre of Forest's revival. Chris Wood, who couldn't hit a barn door from a couple of paces when with us, is banging in the goals for fun against all that is sane. Elliot Anderson, reluctantly sold to keep FFP happy, has turned his smarting resentment into utter determination. And old-time keeper Matz Sels has returned to this country to restore his stature.

Is Wood just enjoying a Miggy Almiron goals glut before falling back into one-paced plodder or has his new-found confidence unleashed previously hidden depths? He has scored nine times this season overall including five matches in a row while we all remember with a shudder his hat-trick at St James Park last season. He had failed to score three PL goals for the Mags on the same turf in all his time here but incredibly did it in one afternoon.

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New Zealand Chris, who is 33 next month, has entered a winter wonderland. He will actually be gunning for a Forest all-time record when his previous employees arrive in town - his 23 PL goals for the reds is only one behind the all-time club record set by Bryan Roy. I know, it is hard to believe, given he notched only four times in 35 PL appearances over two seasons for us but good luck to the lad . . . after Sunday!

Apart from Wood trying to emulate Alan Shearer what else has changed on the banks of the Trent? Well they possess a watertight defence, organised and disciplined, which has conceded only seven goals in 10 PL games, have inventive midfielders, and wide players who run defenders dizzy allowing Wood to take advantage.

Think of Anderson and England international Morgan Gibbs-White in the engine room with Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odi out on the tramlines to get them forward quickly on the counter attack. Both have genuine pedigree - Elanga with Man U and Hudson-Odoi with Chelsea where he won England caps. Newcastle's interest in an agile Anthony at the death of the summer transfer window only emphasises his danger.

However let us not make Forest out to be world beaters. They are not the finished article, not the perfect team, but a work in progress. It would be stretching the imagination beyond natural bounds to suggest that these are the first shoots of a growth that famously went on to produce their greatest ever team assembled by Brian Clough that twice won the European Cup with the likes of Frank Clark, Trevor Francis, Peter Shilton, John Robertson and Kenny Burns all featuring.

Mind you, Forest's controversial chairman Evangelos Marinakis is thinking big and bold. He has been in talks with Arsenal's recently resigned sporting director Edu to persuade him to join the Marinakis group of clubs - Forest, Olympiacos, and Portuguese side Rio Ave - and is on the brink of pulling off a major coup.

We are not of course talking about the future but the here and now and United have already proved earlier this season that Forest can be beaten in their own kingdom having eliminated them from the League Cup albeit on penalties.

Remember Newcastle have overcome Arsenal, Chelsea in the Carabao Cup, and Spurs as well as denying Man City three points so they should not be running scared of Forest. Respect them of course but not fear them.

Oh I know those impressive results were all achieved at home but United have won at Wolves, drawn at Bournemouth who have just beaten Arsenal and Man City, and sickened Cloughie's old club before their own just over a couple of months back.

So what do we need to continue United's recent revival? Well Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall to handle Elanga and Hudson-Odoi with the same authority as they did when they snuffed out the considerable threat of Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka against Arsenal while whoever Eddie Howe selects in midfield from Bruno, Sandro Tonali, Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock to show their undoubted quality in combat with Gibbs-White and Anderson.

Then up front Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon must probe, stretch and penetrate a well organised Forest defence in the devastating way they can when the sun shines upon them. United need both of them to turn up and do the business, get them back to last season's goal plundering when they topped 85 in the PL, because so far Newcastle's record is just ten in ten games.

The reds of Nottingham have lost only one league match all season, an overall record highlighted by victory at leaders Liverpool, but I prefer to believe that means they are due a mighty fall rather than that they are on an irreversible run. Only Liverpool and Man City have suffered just one defeat so far and surely Forest are not in their class despite what happened in a one-off at Anfield. United have to believe that and go about their business with conviction.