(Football news) Eddie Howe’s team fell 1-0 to Luton Town on Saturday, and Nuno Espirito Santo’s first game in command of the Garibaldi ended in a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Bournemouth. Both teams will have Tuesday to make up for their sins from the previous weekend. 

On Boxing Day, when some people will be occupied with eating leftover turkey for lunch, Newcastle’s head coach Eddie Howe will try to come up with a formula for the Magpies, who are not finishing the year as they intend to. The Magpies have only won twice in seven games.

Andros Townsend, an old flame, turned the former Champions League rivals around four days after they suffered a heartbreaking quarterfinal exit from the EFL Cup at the hands of Chelsea. Townsend’s header at Kenilworth Road in the 25th minute gave Luton the victory on a highly charged afternoon for the Hatters without Tom Lockyer.

Although Newcastle, who possessed 65% of the ball and had an equalizer by Alexander Isak disallowed for the smallest of offsides, did not give up without a fight, their record now stands at five losses from six games. Tuesday’s opponents have dropped to seventh place in the standings as a result of West Ham United’s 2-0 victory over Manchester United.

Though Howe’s team might find some comfort in the fact that four of their five recent losses have occurred away from St James’ Park, where they defeated 10-man Fulham 3-0 on December 16, a trip to Liverpool on January 1 also has the potential to ruin the Magpies’ New Year’s celebration.

After that easy victory, the Magpies extended their incredible home winning streak in the Premier League to seven games. In that span, they have conceded just one goal while keeping six clean sheets. However, no team in English league history has lost as many games on Boxing Day as Newcastle, who have lost on the holiday on 46 occasions.

Nottingham Forest supporters welcomed Santo with warm cheers, despite the City Ground’s fondness for the now-unemployed Steve Cooper. However, their pre-game optimism was quickly replaced with post-game wrath following an engrossing and contentious five-goal thriller.

At the break, jeers were directed against referee Rob Jones, whose call to book Willy Boly for two bookable offenses was exceedingly dubious, but Chris Wood and Anthony Elanga appeared to have done enough to save a point for the 10-man Tricky Trees on this Saturday afternoon.

Also read: Fulham will play Bournemouth in EPL