Newcastle fire blanks in goalless draw with bottom-of-the-table side Wolves

Bottom-of-the-league Wolves welcome Newcastle to Molineux. Eddie Howe’s men won the reverse fixture at St James’ Park back in September with Nick Woltemade scoring the only goal of the game. The omens would seem to not be in the favour of the hosts; Wolves have won just two of their 21 Premier League games against Newcastle.

Wolves enter the game bottom of the table, 15 points from safety, but are unbeaten in their last three league games. With Wolves’ status in the Premier League under huge threat, a number of their players are being linked with moves away in this window, including Jorgen Strand Larsen, Joao Gomes and Emmanuel Agbadou. Rob Edwards has been asked about the challenge of the January transfer window.

“If certain players are to go, we dictate that, then, we will look at where we can add,” Edwards said. “We are always thinking about the jigsaw puzzle and making sure we have a good balance when the window closes. There are a lot of lads around who want to right some of the wrongs, and want to help the club and do well for themselves and for the football club as well. They are genuinely all committed, which is not to say no-one is going to go, but it is not like people are banging the door down or trying to force anything.”

Agbadou is available after returning from Afcon but Tawanda Chirewa is out due to illness.

Newcastle were in League Cup action in midweek, falling to a 2-0 home defeat against Manchester City in the first leg of the semi-finals. They start the day in ninth but have the chance to rise into fifth with a win today.

“There is a bit of a fatigue in the Man City performance whether that was physical or mental,” Eddie Howe said. “I know not everyone played those minutes, but that was my feeling having watched the game live and, again, I do not think that was our physically at our absolute best. I think now it is a case between the Man City game and the Wolves game, it is to try to freshen the players up, try get the players to their best. This is a massive game [against Wolves] in our Premier League season. In my opinion, we have built good momentum, and we want to continue that for as long as we can.

“It is nice to come back to the Premier League in a positive frame of mind. We haven’t always had that this season. That is a really good thing for us. We know that the Premier League is such an important competition for us. It is where you consistently and your true strength shows. We want to stay in the upper parts of the league. The big challenge for us is to challenge that consistency that we have built up in the last few games. We cannot allow our standards to drop at any moment. There is a lot of games to come in a short space of time.”

Fabian Schar has had surgery on an ankle injury and could face three months out. Schar joins the likes of Tino Livramento and Jacob Murphy on the sidelines but Dan Burn and William Osula are closing in on a return.

Team news to follow shortly.