Newcastle and Wolves have had very different seasons so far, it’s fair to say.
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Eddie Howe’s Mags, but we head into tonight’s game knowing a win would send us fourth, while Wolves arrive fourth bottom and at risk of dropping into the bottom three if results don’t go their way on Wednesday.
We have a chance to make it nine wins on the spin, but the visitors will be hoping to bounce back after a decent start for their new boss Vitor Pereira.
Pereira hails Howe and responds to Isak question
Pereira has been discussing Newcastle, Eddie Howe, Alexander Isak and three Wolves players set to return to his side ahead of tonight’s game at St James’ Park.
Since replacing Gary O’Neil in December, the Portuguese has helped them to wins over Leicester and Man Utd, followed by a 2-2 draw at Spurs, although they lost 3-0 to Nottingham Forest in their last league match.
Discussing Howe’s Newcastle ahead of the game, he said: “It is a strong team but I don’t know any perfect team.
“We need to understand very well the key points, the tactical points of this team, the technical points, the individual points of this team and with our game – because we have qualities also, we have players with high quality – we need to explore our key points and to try to cancel them out and try to not allow them to play in the way that they like to play.
“Eddie Howe is a top coach. When I look at a coach, I look not at what they say, but at their teams and what they build, and Newcastle is a very strong team.
“Of course, Eddie has been at Newcastle for a long time and it’s easier to build something strong, and this is my intention in Wolverhampton – to build something strong.”
Asked about Isak, Pereira insisted that the ‘plan’ is to match Newcastle all over the pitch, feeling it could be there downfall if they focus too much on our star striker: “As a team. We need to play as a team. If we play only against Isak, it will be Wolves’ 11 against Isak. But it’s 11 against 11, 11 against a team that have got eight wins in a row.
“When we look at these opponents, we understand why they are in this condition, because they play with identity, they have a high physical level, technical level and tactical level.
“It’s very good work from the coach because they have an identity which is very clear for me – it’s very clear, and they are a very strong team.”
Wolves handed triple boost
In their last league game – a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest – Wolves had a number of defensive injuries, forcing them to play two full-backs in their three-man defence.
However, it sounds like they’ll have two back tonight, with Nelson Semedo and Craig Dawson “ready” to return and star man Matheus Cunha back from a two-match ban.
“Nelson, Dawson and Cunha will be ready for the match, but they are coming from injury so we need to be careful about the minutes that they can play. But we need players and players with this quality.”