Anthony Elanga puts friendships on hold as he targets points for Newcastle | OneFootball

Newcastle winger Anthony Elanga will put his Nottingham Forest friendships on hold for 90 minutes as he attempts to ruin their Sunday.

The Magpies’ £55million summer signing is expected to line up against his former employers for the first time since leaving the City Ground when they head for St James’ Park in the Premier League on Sunday.

Sweden international Elanga, 23, remains in close contact with players who were team-mates just a few months ago, but that will all go out of the window at the weekend.

Asked if he would speak to his friends in the run-up to the game, he replied: “I still speak to them every day because they’re still my mates. But when it comes to the game, then I’ll just lock into that and focus on my team.

“(I have) 100 per cent great memories from there. They’ve got a new manager now and it’s not going to be easy. But I believe in this team and hopefully we can keep that going.”

Elanga will go into the game on the back of his best performance yet in a black and white shirt having terrorised full-back Fedde Leysen in Wednesday night’s 4-0 Champions League win over Union Saint-Gilloise in Brussels.

He, Anthony Gordon and record signing Nick Woltemade lined up from the start in a three-man front-line for the first time, and the results were impressive.

Elanga said: “It’s the first time we’ve played with each other, so it’s important to build a relationship. Whether it’s me playing or it could be Harvey Barnes or anyone, it’s important to build that momentum.

“We played a good game on Wednesday, everyone from top to bottom. It’s important we build on this and just keep it going.

“Let’s not make this a one-off game. Let’s carry this on in the league and in the cups and in the Champions League again.”

Newcastle have endured a mixed start to the campaign, performing well enough in games but too often not scoring the goals their displays have merited.

However, that all changed against the Belgian champions.

Elanga said: “I was really pleased with the performance. We owe it to the fans. We’ve not had the best of starts to the season, but this is going to help us build momentum and we need to keep this going and let our football do the talking and just focus on the next game.

“The win was much, much needed, especially with the way we played and the amount of goals we scored, so let’s build on this and just focus on the next game.”