Vitor Pereira said there was no time for his Nottingham Forest players to dwell on their Europa League heartbreak ahead of their return to Premier League action on Sunday. 

Forest were thumped 4-0 in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final against Aston Villa in midweek, which saw Unai Emery's side emerge 4-1 victors on aggregate. 

They have now been eliminated from each of their last three major cup semi-finals, but focus now switches to ensuring they remain in the top flight. 

Pereira's side are 16th in the Premier League and six points above the relegation zone ahead of welcoming Newcastle United to the City Ground. 

The Opta supercomputer has assigned Forest a 0.1% chance of being relegated with three league games remaining, though Pereira urged his injury-hit team to find a response from their European near-miss. 

"Now it is important to win the battle until the end of the season, and then we can think about building something to be back in European competition," Pereira said. 

"We have to play again after three days. We played three days ago, and we're playing again three days after, and there are teams not in Europe that are playing on Monday.

"We've had a lot of injuries because the players are not machines, and they cannot deal with this kind of schedule.

"It was a sad day. But we need to come back stronger and recover to compete against Newcastle United."

Newcastle, meanwhile, got back on track in the Premier League with a 3-1 win over Brighton after suffering four consecutive defeats. 

That slump in form has seen the Magpies drop to 13th, though they still have an outside chance of securing European football.

And with a spot in Europe unlikely, reports have suggested a number of Newcastle's top stars could leave in the summer, most notably Anthony Gordon. 

Gordon has registered 22 goal involvements (17 goals, five assists) in 47 appearances in all competitions in 2025-26, and has been linked with a move to Bayern Munich. 

But when asked if he could shed any light on Bayern links, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said: "No, none. That's not something I'm involved in."

Questioned further whether he feels Gordon is 100% committed to the club, Howe replied: "Yeah, he wouldn't be in the squad if that was the case.

"And I judge that, as I said many times, not on communications elsewhere, I do that with my relationship with the player and how I see them train."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Nottingham Forest – Igor Jesus

Morgan Gibbs-White could be out for the season after the nasty head injury he sustained against Chelsea, and he will be a huge miss for Forest, given he has been involved in nine goals in his last eight top-flight games, scoring seven and assisting two.

But Forest will hope they can turn to Jesus to try and fill that gap. The Brazilian has scored in each of his last three Premier League games (three goals), as many times as he had netted in his first 31 appearances.

Newcastle – William Osula

Among players to play 500+ minutes for Newcastle in the Premier League, Osula has the best minutes per goal ratio (six goals in 713 minutes, one every 119 mins).

He has also scored in four of his last six appearances for the Magpies, and Howe will be looking to rely on the Norwegian to lead from the front at the City Ground. 

MATCH PREDICTION: NOTTINGHAM FOREST WIN

Despite being favoured by the Opta supercomputer, Forest have won just one of their 15 Premier League games against Newcastle (D3 L11), losing nine of the last 10. The only victory came at St James' Park in December 2023 (3-1).

But Pereira's side have won their last three top-flight games, beating Burnley 4-1, Sunderland 5-0 and Chelsea 3-1. They last scored 3+ goals in four consecutive top-flight games between March and April 1995.

And following their 4-1 victory over Burnley at the City Ground last time out, Forest are looking for consecutive home Premier League wins for the first time since between March and April 2025 when they beat Manchester City and Manchester United.

Newcastle, meanwhile, are unbeaten in all seven of their Premier League away games against Forest (W4 D3), both the most they have faced an opponent without losing and the most the Tricky Trees have faced a side without winning in the competition.

However, the Magpies have lost nine of their 16 league games so far in 2026, with only Burnley (10) losing more this year. Defeat in this match would be the earliest they have reached 10 league defeats from the start of a calendar year since 2015 (15 games).

And scoring away from St. James' has been a big issue. Only Wolves (seven) and Sunderland (14) have scored fewer away Premier League goals this season than Newcastle (16), with the Magpies failing to score in seven different away games in 2025-26, their most in a season since 2020-21 (eight).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Nottingham Forest – 43.7%

Draw – 26.8%

Newcastle – 29.5%