Newcastle United 3 (Isak 34 & 57, Gordon 74) Wolves 0
Wolves slipped back into the Premier League relegation zone following Newcastle United’s comfortable win at St James’ Park on Wednesday evening.
Alexander Isak’s deflected strike was the difference during an opening period where Jorgen Strand Larsen clipped a post for Wolves, and there was little between the sides.
However, once Newcastle’s leading scorer was afforded too much space in the Wolves box, his second goal killed any Old Gold hopes. Anthony Gordon added a third for the hosts, leaving Wolves beaten by three goals to nil in consecutive top flight games.
While the hosts were the more dominate side in the opening half, Wolves will have been pleased with their work in the main, restricting them to half chances and looking a threat on the break.
It was little surprise Jose Sa was the first goalkeeper called into action, given Newcastle’s eight-match winning streak, but he parried away Jacob Murphy’s low effort from the edge of the box.
Goncalo Guedes was the man to threaten first for Wolves. When Hee Chan Hwang’s delivery fell his way, the Portuguese fired back across goal but watched his effort flash wide.
The in-form Isak was the home side’s danger man and when he collected Joelinton’s pass, he came inside and fired low, but wide of the near post. He was then denied a clear shot on goal by a flying challenge from Emmanuel Agbadou on his Premier League debut.
However, the next time the Newcastle striker cut inside from the left, luck was on his side. There looked little on when he made his way in-field, but a ricochet off Joao Gomes worked to his advantage, as did the deflection off Rayan Ait-Nouri, which wrongfooted Sa to give Newcastle the lead.
Still, Wolves will feel they should have been level at the break. When Lewis Hall lost his footing momentarily, Rodrigo Gomes nipped in and laid across for Strand Larsen, who let the ball roll across him, before his side-footed effort kissed the foot of the post and bounced away from danger.
Half-time | Newcastle 1-0 Wolves
The introduction of Matheus Cunha momentarily brought new impetus, but a poor goal to concede just before the hour mark killed Wolves’ hopes. Bruno Guimaraes was able to pick out an unmarked Isak inside the Wolves box and he sat Sa down as he fired into the net.
Cunha did have two efforts either side of Guimaraes blazing over. Then the returning Nelson Semedo drifted inside and tested Martin Dubravka low to his left. The right-back then freed Cunha centrally and his rolled effort with the left foot trickled agonisingly wide.
With 14 minutes left United wrapped up the win. Matt Doherty had denied Isak his hat-trick with a fine sliding challenge, but the striker simply helped the ball back into the area for Gordon to roll into the corner for 3-0.
Wolves had their chances to at least save their goal difference. Dubrava impressively turned Strand Larsen’s effort on to the bar, but maybe he shouldn’t have been given a chance, and Sarabia had two chances to pull one back.
The Old Gold’s luck was compounded when Santiago Bueno forced Cunha’s corner over the line, only for VAR to rule it out for a handball, compounding a miserable evening for Wolves.
Full-time | Newcastle 3-0 Wolves
Newcastle | Dubravka, Livramento (Trippier 85), Botman, Burn, Hall, Tonali, Guimaraes, Joelinton (Miley 83), Gordon (Willock 78), Murphy (Almiron 78), Isak (Osula 78).
Unused subs | Odysseas, Krafth, Kelly, Longstaff.
Wolves | Sa, R Gomes (Semedo 69), Doherty, Bueno, Agbadou, Ait-Nouri, Andre (Sarabia 86), J Gomes (Doyle 86), Guedes (Bellegarde 69), Hwang (Cunha 45), Strand Larsen.
Unused subs | Johnstone, Dawson, Lima, Forbs.
