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).
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 told TNT Sports 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.”
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.
