Newcastle 3-0 Wolves (Isak 34’, 57’, Gordon 74′)
ST JAMES’ PARK — Alexander Isak is inevitable but in-form Newcastle United are doing more than enough to suggest the identity Premier League winners might not be.
This was nine straight wins for the Magpies and eight games with a goal for Isak, currently the most lethal striker on the planet. And what made it so remarkable was that it all felt so routine for Eddie Howe‘s team, who overcame the sort of obdurate opponents who were their Achilles heel earlier in the season.
Can they really impact the title race? Their stuttering early season form has left them with a chasm to bridge to clear favourites Liverpool but they have momentum, belief and a striker capable of turning games in an instant.
Isak really is as good as the hype surrounding him. What makes him so dangerous is that he can both stretch defences and puncture them – his pair of goals here showcasing the full extent of his ability. For the first, his elastic limbs took him past a Wolverhampton Wanderers side camped on the edge of their penalty area before a whipped, deflected shot past Jose Sa.
For the second, he ghosted into the right place at the right time to receive a pass from the outstanding Bruno Guimaraes before smashing past the Wolves goalkeeper.
What could the visitors do to stop him? Not much. Newcastle are playing with such belief that if you expend too much energy trying to stop Isak, one of their other in-form forwards will get you. Anthony Gordon – who has four in four games himself – proved that with a third that reflected Newcastle’s dominance.
The more realistic goal for Howe’s side this season is to return to the Champions League and convert this rich vein of form into a trophy in the Carabao Cup. But the fact that they’re finding different ways to win must be hugely satisfying to a manager who worked long and hard to address their issues against teams playing a low block.
Wolves ticked that box, arriving with a plan that mirrored the spiky defiance of their manager Vitor Pereira.
He is not short on confidence or ideas and the one that they unfurled at St James’ Park made sense: flood the midfield, chuck a blanket over Newcastle’s front three and choke the life out of a counter-attack that had seen off nine previous opponents.
For half an hour it worked as the hosts tried to work out the best way to break through Wolves’ disciplined midfield quintet. It wasn’t that Howe’s team lacked ideas – Sandro Tonali‘s subtle shift up the pitch to try and press the visitors was proof of his in-game IQ – but opportunities were limited and there was threat to be resisted on the counter. Newcastle were a shade fortunate during the opening exchanges that it was the struggling Hwang Hee-chan and not Matheus Cunha who started.
But then came Isak, cutting in on the edge of the penalty area to fire past Sa with the help of a sizeable deflection off Rayan Ait-Nouri. It was not the most spectacular of his nine goals in as many games but it came at the perfect point in the contest, just as Wolves were threatening to dig in.
They should have levelled within minutes from a swift counter-attack which found Jorgen Strand Larsen in the penalty area but his volleyed effort struck the foot of Martin Dubravka’s post. On reflection, it was the moment the game edged away from Wolves.
At half-time Pereira played his ace, introducing Brazilian forward Cunha into his attack. But his wit and invention came up against a black and white brick wall in the form of Sven Botman and Tino Livramento, who look like they’ve played together in this Newcastle defence for years. Understandably much has been made of Isak’s form but they have conceded just three goals since embarking on their remarkable winning run. Those are firm foundations for this run at the top four.
Late on there was a run out for Miguel Almiron, the subject of an £11million bid from his former club Atlanta United. It’s a move likely to happen in the coming days, unlocking the ability for Howe to add more to a squad that has the winning feeling.
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