Newcastle United will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing defeat to Chelsea when they welcome an upbeat Wolverhampton Wanderers side to St. James’ Park. Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce will be eager to prove his team’s credentials, especially considering that before the defeat to Chelsea, they picked up a highly unexpected win against Manchester United.
The Magpies currently find themselves in the dreaded relegation zone, owing to their recent form, which reads two wins, two draws and five defeats. This doesn’t mean too much though, as the difference between Newcastle in 17th and Aston Villa in 11th is just 3 points, which effectively means that a single win would be enough to hoist them back above the drop zone.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolverhampton Wanderers side are coming into this fixture on the back of a 4-game unbeaten streak, which stretches back to the middle of September. Their last league defeat was against Chelsea, and since then, they’ve gone on to collect 8 points from four matches, including a surprise victory over champions Manchester City.
Team News
Steve Bruce currently has a reasonably extensive injury list to deal with, with midfield star Issac Hayden’s suspension, coming as an added headache to the manager. Matt Ritchie is currently on the road to recovery and could be back in action soon. However, it does seem unlikely that he will make his return this weekend.
Fabian Schar is another massive absentee for Steve Bruce’s side, with a knee injury set to keep him out of this fixture as well. Andy Carroll’s never-ending list of injuries just seems to go on; he has now picked up a groin strain that knocks him out of contention for this tie. Long-term absentee Florian Lejeune has been working on his knee problem but is only expected to return to first-team action at the end of November.
Formation: 5-4-1
Defence
The injury to Fabian Schar means that Steve Bruce is expected to stick to the same back three that faced defeat at Stamford Bridge last weekend. They can be expected to line up with skipper Jamaal Lascelles down the middle, with Ciaran Clark and part-time centre-half Paul Dummett, on either side of him. Steve Bruce is expected to allow both DeAndre Yedlin and Jetro Willems to retain their places in the Newcastle team.
Both these full-backs provide a lot of creative potential going forward – something that the Magpies certainly haven’t been lacking since the start of the campaign. The duo will be looking to overlap the wingers on every possible occasion. With Wolves expected to play a similar formation as well, there could be massive amounts of space on the flank for the full-backs to exploit.
Midfield
Jonjo Shelvey is expected to make his return to the Newcastle starting lineup, in place of Matthew Longstaff, having spent the last two weekends watching on from the bench. The Englishman’s previous involvement in a Newcastle shirt was at the end of September when he played the opening 70+ minutes of their Premier League draw against Brighton.
Sean Longstaff will be Shelvey’s partner in the middle of the park, and together, they will be tasked with controlling the tempo of the fixture. Next to them, expect to see the now familiar faces of Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin on either side. Whenever they get forward, the speedsters will provide Steve Bruce’s side with acres of width, which will then allow their striker the space to position himself in the middle.
Attack
Joelinton’s place in the Newcastle United side hasn’t come into question as yet. Despite his rather average start to life in the Premier League, the Toon Army have been quick to identify that the youngster has bags of potential. Although he’s only scored one goal so far this campaign, Steve Bruce won’t be too flustered by this fact. The Brazilian, if given time to settle into life in England, has the right attributes to be the next big Newcastle star.
