Alexander Isak scored twice as Newcastle beat Wolves 3-0 at St James’ Park to move into the top four.
The striker has now netted in eight consecutive Premier League games, breaking a club record and becoming only the fourth man to do that in the competition. Newcastle have won the last six of those games to propel them into the Champions League spots.
Isak’s first goal was deflected into the bottom corner of the net via Rayan Ait-Nouri and his second was straightforward, given space inside the Wolves box. The Swede even provided the assist for Newcastle’s third, setting up Anthony Gordon to score.
It reflected Newcastle’s dominance despite Jorgen Strand Larsen striking the post and Santi Bueno having a goal disallowed. Vitor Pereira’s side drop back into the relegation zone following this defeat, their Premier League status looking precarious again.
In contrast, Newcastle, with nine victories in a row in all competitions, look like a team on the up under Eddie Howe. The whole team appear in top form – and it helps that Howe can count on the services of arguably the best striker in Europe right now.
Isak’s impact in stats
- Isak became the fourth player in Premier League history to score in eight consecutive appearances, after Ruud van Nistelrooy (twice for Man Utd), Jamie Vardy (twice for Leicester) and Daniel Sturridge (for Liverpool).
- He also became the seventh Newcastle player to score 25+ Premier League goals at St James’ Park – of those players, only Andrew Cole (23 games) and Alan Shearer (26) got to 25 goals in fewer games than the Swedish forward (34).
Player of the match: Alexander Isak
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, speaking to TNT Sports:
“The first goal was key today.
“I think he [Isak] will probably say he meant it, the way things are going for him at the moment. But he has picked the ball up wide left and he has got that freedom because he is a really good dribbler. We encourage him to get on the ball as much as he can.
“When you have got the technical skills that he has, I think it is huge for us that we do not ask him to be too central and static. We need him on the ball, we want him on the ball, as much as possible in the attacking third so he does have freedom to get the ball.
“He makes [the second goal] look an easy finish but it is absolutely not because you might get one of those in a game and we need him to take it. But he has got that calmness and that coolness that all the top players have.”
Anything is possible, adds Howe
Asked in the press conference if this sends a message to Newcastle’s rivals for the top four, Howe said:
“I don’t know if it sends a message, we’re just doing what we need to do. That won’t change in the respect that we’ve got to try and win games and put points consistently together.
“We’re still in a busy period, we’ve got a massive game coming up so we need to recover well and focus on that.
“Anything is possible but we have to get results and do it consistently. We struggled in the early season with being in and out of form. This has been a really good run and propelled us to a really good position. We need to carry that on.
“There has to be more to come and that’s the challenge we have to pose to the players because today wasn’t perfect, the last 20 minutes weren’t great. We need to keep growing, evolving and improving because the challenges only get harder.”
Analysis: Tonali key for Newcastle
The performance of Isak understandably takes the headlines but the efforts of Sandro Tonali in midfield were equally impressive in their own way. The Italian returned to the starting line-up in mid-December and Newcastle have won every game since.
“I thought Sandro was magnificent today,” Howe said afterwards. “We always ask our midfielders to do different jobs depending on our opposition. Today he had a deeper role off the ball and I thought he did it absolutely brilliantly,
“He followed it to the letter. He was putting out a lot of transition issues for us, so I thought his individual performance was strong but I thought midfield was the key area because we had a lot of the ball and they all used the ball really well.”
Pereira explains Lemina omission
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Vitor Pereira says that he left Mario Lemina out of the squad for Newcastle as the midfielder has asked to leave Wolves
Wolves boss Vitor Pereira speaking in the press conference:
“The result didn’t show what happened in the game. I am so proud of the players – we created many chances. We will get confidence and begin to score.
“In the second half they [Newcastle] can score a goal and we have to realise that. They have the striker [Isak] who is very fast and great quality.
“We tried to do everything well so I can’t criticise the defenders.”
Pereira also explained why former captain Mario Lemina was not in his squad for the game.
“I cannot play a player who says he does not feel mentally in a condition to help the team. I cannot play a player who comes to me and says that. He says he wants to leave.
“This mentality I do not need. I would rather give a chance to someone who is committed. He came to my office after the press conference yesterday.”
Analysis: Wolves’ weak defence
Pereira has made Wolves more compact since his arrival but back-to-back 3-0 defeats in the Premier League underline the defensive improvement still required if this group of players are to retain their top-flight status for next season.
Emmanuel Agbadou was included for his Premier League debut but endured some awkward moments, while Santi Bueno and Matt Doherty were also culpable in allowing too much space inside their own box for the second and third Newcastle goals.
Pereira will need more from his attackers too, having created more than enough opportunities to score at St James’ Park and in that home defeat to Nottingham Forest. But it is the defence, the worst in the Premier League, that remains the biggest concern.
