A live TV audience will see two teams in good spirits, Forest having won their last three games while Newcastle have shrugged off their relegation last season and a chaotic summer to top the Championship table.
"As a team we're doing OK, I think," defender Jose Enrique told the Newcastle Chronicle.
"Our defensive record is pretty good, but of course there are always things to improve on."
The two teams have not met since March 1999 when goals from Alan Shearer and Didi Hamann gave Newcastle a Premier League win at the City Ground in front of 22,852, Dougie Freedman netting for the Reds.