Three changes, Botman starts: Newcastle’s predicted XI vs Nottingham Forest

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Newcastle probably wish there was a Christmas break in the Premier League.

The Tyneside club are in terrible form, they have so many injuries and their current crop of players look absolutely exhausted.

The last thing the Magpies need right now is a run of games in quick succession, but, of course, they’re not that lucky.

Newcastle have just lost to Luton, and just three days later, they’re having to face Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day.

Luckily, this game is at St James’ Park, so Newcastle should be confident of a result, but, at the same time, Nottingham Forest may be about to experience a new manager bounce and they were unlucky to lose to Bournemouth at the weekend.

With injuries and fitness issues mounting, Newcastle face a tough task here, and, with that in mind, we’ve had a go at predicting their starting XI for this one.

We think that Eddie Howe will make three changes from the team that started against Luton.

Martin Dubravka continues to start in goal in the absence of Nick Pope, and while Kieran Trippier has been in truly awful form as of late, he also gets a start here.

Meanwhile, Sven Botman comes in for his first Premier League start in quite some time after Jamaal Lascelles picked up an injury against Luton.

Botman is partnered by Fabian Schar, while Dan Burn continues at left-back.

In the midfield, Bruno Guimaraes and Sean Longstaff keep their spots, but there’s a return to the team for Joelinton whose recent hamstring problem isn’t supposed to be serious, so he could return here.

Miguel Almiron and Anthony Gordon continue down the flanks, while Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak continue to rotate with the Swede getting the nod here after Wilson misfired at Luton on Saturday.

This is a great chance for Newcastle to rediscover a bit of form, but Forest may well be confident heading into this game under their new manager.