'Very, very strong': Nuno Espirito Santo praises Newcastle United squad but plays it cool on Alexander Isak

Nuno Espirito Santo brings his third-place Nottingham Forest side to St James' Park for their third meeting with Newcastle United of the season.

Newcastle won both of the previous meetings this season, but the last time the two sides met at St James' Park was Boxing Day 2023, and Chris Wood scored a hat-trick against his old club, sealing a win for Forest.

We know that they will be no pushovers on Sunday, but we do have our secret weapon in Alexander Isak, who has scored four goals in four games against Nottingham Forest.

Isak is due a goal after drawing a blank last week, but Nuno Espirito Santo refuses to highlight him as the danger man.

Nuno Espirito Santo tried to avoid talking about Alexander Isak

When speaking to the media ahead of Sunday's game, Nuno was asked about Alexander Isak and in a bid to avoid giving anything away, quickly shifted focus.

“A very good player.

“But, like I said, the squad of Newcastle is very strong… very, very strong, in all the positions.”

We're looking for positives where we can find them even if we have to make them up

We're taking that as Nuno being terrified of Isak and not wanting to show it, so he changed the subject. We could be completely wrong, but that's what makes us happy, and we need every little bit of positivity heading into Sunday's match.

Both sides are coming into this game off the back of defeats, but Newcastle's was more a humiliation than a defeat, so a response isn't just required, it is demanded.

We'd normally take solace in the fact that it's a home game, but we've been awful at St James' Park lately in the Premier League, so we can't even take comfort in that right now.