Nottingham Forest failed to pick up three points for the fourth Premier League game in a row on Saturday evening.

Nuno Espírito Santo welcomed Newcastle United to the City Ground on Saturday, and the Magpies walked away with a 3-2 victory.

The visitors dominated possession throughout, especially in the first half, when they tallied up 68% of the ball. The Tricky Trees went behind twice in the first half, but the score line was 2-2 at the break.

Forest then had nine attempts in the second half while also accumulating 0.40 xG, but they were unable to recover for the third time, with Bruno Guimaraes' second goal deciding the outcome.

Two players, in particular, were arguably at fault during the defeat.

Ryan Yates’ performance vs Newcastle

Ryan Yates returned to the side after being suspended in Forest’s FA Cup tie against Bristol City, but the captain struggled to inspire his team.

His substitution in the 73rd minute capped off a frustrating evening for the 26-year-old, who was dominated by Eddie Howe’s midfield.

Yates was wasteful on the ball throughout, making just 19 passes and boasting a sorry 73% pass accuracy, which, compared to Nicolas Dominguez’s 90%, is poor. He also completed zero of his three attempts at long balls and gave possession away on nine occasions.

However, what let him down was the fact that he was unable to win his individual battles or win the second ball, which Nuno Santo’s game plan would have focused on. This is highlighted by his ground-duel success rate of 3/8. The number 22 also committed four fouls, which shows he was off the pace.

That said, Yates wasn't the only man to blame in defeat for Nuno's men.

Anthony Elanga’s game by numbers

It isn’t often that a player who scored a goal ends up letting his side down, but Anthony Elanga can certainly be criticised after Newcastle's trip to the City Ground.

After the first 30 minutes, it looked like the 21-year-old was going to terrorise Dan Burn all game, but as the clock ticked over he would eventually be to blame for their 3-2 loss.

Elanga showed his pace to get in behind the visitors' backline early on and missed a huge chance with an xG of 0.37. The move was almost exactly replicated for his goal, but he kept his composure that time around to find the back of the net.

Minutes

96

Goals

1

xG

0.82

xA

0.04

Passes (Pass accuracy)

7/12 (58%)

Possession lost

14

Successful dribbles

1/4

Errors leading to goals

1

Besides that goal, however, lots of his attacking play didn’t really come off for the Sweden star, with him allowing possession to be overturned far too often. Elanga completed a woeful seven passes all game, but he only attempted 12 with a pass accuracy of 58%.

The former Manchester United ace also only had a 25% dribble success rate while failing to display any creativity, as shown by his 0.04 xA.

That said, his involvement in Newcastle’s winner is what ultimately cost his side and changed the game, as his misplaced pass handed the ball straight to Guimaraes (footage above), who punished Elanga for his mistake.

Overall, Elanga was a threat in spells, but on the whole, he unfortunately let his team down when they needed a moment of composure out from the back.