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TEAM NEWS
Wolves welcome back Mario Lemina and Nelson Semedo from suspension. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde may return from a muscle issue in time to feature. However, Hugo Bueno remains out with a thigh injury.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe says there is a “high chance” Sandro Tonali will play as the club have not had confirmation his 10-month ban for breaching betting rules has been imposed. Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy are out with respective groin and shoulder injuries, while Elliot Anderson is set to miss eight weeks with a back issue.
GARY O'NEIL
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
O’Neil confirmed Joe Hodge has had shoulder surgery and will be unavailable for two to three months. Fellow midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde will be checked on Saturday morning and could be available, but not for the full match.
He said he has “no idea” on the eligibility of Sandro Tonali at Newcastle, but that Wolves “have prepared for it to be him or [Sean] Longstaff anyway, so it hasn’t done too much to the preparation we have done”.
On the returns of Mario Lemina and Nelson Semedo from suspensions, O’Neil said it “will be big” to have them back, but that their opponents are still “one of the toughest tests in the league at the moment, arguably the toughest with some of the results and scorelines they have had – they will be a really tough test”.
He added: “[It will be] a good challenge for us, the boys are looking forward to it, I’m looking forward to it and it will be good to see how far we have come.”
Asked about goalkeeper Jose Sa’s character and the impact he has, O’Neil said: “He’s been very good for the group, he is an interesting character and has a lot of character. You need those players, especially in goal sometimes. You underestimate the impact a goalkeeper can have on the team, especially when the team starts to go under a bit and go through tough situations – the goalkeepers tend to grow.”
On the importance of managing and reassuring players, like the chat he had with Tommy Doyle, he said: “I try to do all of the job all the time, managing the mentality of the group, making sure the ones who haven’t maybe had as many minutes as they deserve are OK and making sure those who are playing all the time are OK, making sure the tactics are right and it’s always all of it, to try to have a 360 view.”
He added: “There is a lot of this job that people don’t see, it takes a lot, especially the way I choose to do it, you try to cover everything always but I love every moment of it.”
STATS & FACTS
Head-to-head
- Wolverhampton have won just two of their 16 Premier League meetings with Newcastle, drawing 10 and losing four.
- Six of Newcastle’s eight Premier League games at Molineux have ended 1-1 – the other two both finished 2-1, with Newcastle winning in October 2011 and Wolves triumphing in October 2021.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Wolverhampton are unbeaten in four Premier League fixtures, winning two and drawing two. It’s their best run since January 2022.
- Wolves are five points better off than at this stage last season, when they had six points from their opening nine matches and just one win.
- They have failed to score in only one of their 14 Premier League home games in 2023, a 1-0 defeat to Gary O’Neil’s Bournemouth in February.
- Hwang Hee-chan is vying to become the first Wolves player to score six or more times in their opening 10 top-flight matches since Derek Dougan in 1973.
- Pedro Neto has provided six assists, the joint-highest figure in the top flight along with Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier.
Newcastle United
- Newcastle have won four of their past five Premier League games, drawing the other, while also keeping a clean sheet in each victory.
- The Magpies have scored 24 goals in nine Premier League matches, their most at this stage of a top-flight campaign since 1994.
- They are three points shy of reaching 1,500 in the Premier League and would become the eighth team to reach this milestone.
- Eddie Howe’s side have registered just one victory from their last seven away fixtures in all competitions (D4, L2), although that was an 8-0 win at Sheffield United last month.
- Callum Wilson has scored five top-flight goals this season and averages one every 66 minutes, the best ratio of any player to feature for 90 minutes or more.
- Wilson needs one more goal to exceed Andrew Cole and Shola Ameobi’s record of 43 and move outright third on Newcastle’s list of leading Premier League goalscorers.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Anthony Taylor. Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn. Fourth official: Thomas Bramall. VAR: Jarred Gillett. Assistant VAR: Steve Meredith.
MATCH INFO
The match kicks off at 5.30pm on Saturday 28th October at Molineux. The match is shown live on SkySports in the UK.