Editor's Note

Elliot Anderson came back to haunt the club that sold him. The midfielder equalised three minutes from time at the City Ground to cancel out Harvey Barnes' opener, lifting Nottingham Forest seven points clear of the relegation zone with two games to go and pushing Newcastle's faint European hopes a step further away.

Of all the players Newcastle could have run into on a Sunday afternoon when their season needed rescuing, the one they sold for £35m two years ago was the worst possible draw. With three minutes left, Elliot Anderson collected a short pass from James McAtee, drove into the box and beat Nick Pope from close range. Nottingham Forest 1-1 Newcastle - and a result that nudges Vitor Pereira's side toward the survival mission he was hired to complete in February.

The numbers tell the story of how comfortable that escape now looks. Forest sit seven points clear of the bottom three with two games left. They will be mathematically safe later on Sunday if 18th-placed West Ham lose at home to Arsenal. Pereira inherited the job from Sean Dyche in February and has all but seen it through.

For Newcastle, this is more familiar territory than they would like. Twenty-seven points dropped from winning positions in the league this season - Eddie Howe's stat-line for a campaign that was supposed to build on last year's fifth-place finish and Carabao Cup. They had the better chances at the City Ground. William Osula clipped the bar from a free-kick. Matz Sels spilled an earlier shot from Bruno Guimaraes. Nick Pope's second-half save from Taiwo Awoniyi briefly looked like it might be the moment that swung the game Newcastle's way.

The breakthrough came with 16 minutes remaining and it came through a substitute who has spent the season trading in late, important goals. Harvey Barnes ran onto Jacob Ramsey's pass, held off Morato and finished. The forward already has an opener against Barcelona and a double against Manchester City to his name this season. For a while, this looked like it would be added to the list.

Anderson sends a reminder Newcastle did not need

Newcastle did not need a reminder of what they had let go. Anderson was sold to the City Ground in 2024 partly to help the club navigate Profit and Sustainability rules - a decision the away end has clearly never quite made peace with, given they spent stretches of the afternoon singing his name. He responded by becoming central to Forest's £35m-well-spent story.

His equaliser was clean and almost inevitable in its timing. McAtee's short pass, a stride into the box, no real angle for Pope. Anderson pointed to the sky after he scored, in tribute to his mother Helen, for whom Forest laid a wreath against Burnley last month after her death.

The 23-year-old is now a fixture in Thomas Tuchel's England squad and is expected to travel to the World Cup. With Manchester United and Manchester City reportedly tracking him and Forest unable to offer European football next season - Thursday's Europa League semi-final defeat against Aston Villa closed that door - it is hard to see this being his final summer at the City Ground without serious noise.

Newcastle: familiar failings, fading European hopes

Howe's side briefly climbed to ninth when Barnes scored. They finish the day 13th, a long way short of where the season needed to go. Recovery and preparation time tilted in their favour - Forest were playing their third game of the week - but Newcastle defended tiredly when it mattered, and a season full of late slips picked up another late slip.

The away end's reaction told its own story. The 'Geordie Maradona' chant from the home support at full-time was more pointed than playful: Anderson, the boyhood Newcastle fan and academy graduate, had punished his old club one more time before, in all likelihood, moving on to a bigger one.

What's next

Nottingham Forest travel to Manchester United next Sunday (12:30) before closing the season at home to Bournemouth on 24 May (16:00). Newcastle host West Ham on 17 May (16:30) and finish at Fulham a week later (16:00).