Newcastle United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, Premier League 2022-2023, Today Match Prediction

Newcastle United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers FC Match Prediction & Analysis

It would appear that the distraction of a cup final has dented Newcastle’s league form of late, with the Magpies going five games without victory in that competition.

It’s a shame for Eddie Howe and Newcastle fans as it would now appear that they are out of the running for a top four spot this season. Liverpool and Tottenham seem in better places to achieve that right now.

That said, if Newcastle can recover their winning form quickly, there is nothing stopping them from putting pressure on those teams above. A home victory would do nicely for them here.

As for Wolves, they have transformed themselves into a good footballing team once more. Although they still struggle to score the amount of goals that would see them comfortable, they have improved in that area.

An away win at Newcastle would demonstrate just how much progress they have made under Lopetegui in such a short space of time.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Newcastle United Preview

Reasons to be cheerful:

     Conceded just eight league goals at home this season – joint-best in the league

     Only Liverpool & Manchester City have beaten Magpies at home under Howe

Reasons to be fearful:

     Lost their last three games in all competitions

     Scored just three goals since the start of 2023

Although Eddie Howe continues to play down the notion that his players have been distracted by playing in a Carabao Cup final recently, it is certainly not a coincidence that the Magpies’ form has slipped dramatically.

From holding onto 3rd ahead of Manchester United, to now finding themselves down in 6th, Newcastle’s fortunes have slipped since the turn of the year.

Indeed, with just three league goals and one victory so far in 2023, it hasn’t been a great start to what could have been a stellar year for Howe and his players. There is time to turn things around, of course.

Unfortunately, Howe will miss Joelinton for the next two games as the midfielder picked up his 10th yellow of the season. Fabian Schar will return in defence however.

They don’t have the greatest record against Wolves, winning just one of their last 10.

Star Man – Bruno Guimaraes

Arguably, it was the arrival of Guimaraes that sparked Newcastle into life just over a year ago. With the club lacking a spark right now, it would be fitting if the dynamic midfielder kicked them into gear here.

Wolverhampton Wanderers FC Preview

Reasons to be cheerful

     Just one defeat from their last 10 against Newcastle

     Collected 17 points from their 11 games under Lopetegui

Reasons to be fearful

     Won just two of 11 away fixtures this season

     Conceded in all nine meetings with Newcastle since 2018

Despite the marked improvement of Wolves under Julen Lopetegui, the club still needs to address its away form, which has been poor this season.

With just two wins and nine goals scored away from Molineux, it’s safe to say that they haven’t had much luck on their travels this season. 

This could represent a good opportunity to change that, with Newcastle a little out of sorts right now. Lopetegui has made Wolves hard to play against and they’ve improved their goalscoring to an extent.

They still don’t have a regular goal getter – Podence and Neves have just five a piece this season – but at least others are chipping in when it matters.

Star Man – Ruben Neves

Like the man he’ll be up against here, Bruno Guimaraes, Ruben Neves is a talented operator who can dominate the midfield given the opportunity. He’s chipped in with five goals this season and could be the decider here.