Eddie Howe's Newcastle United broke the club transfer record last night signing Sweden star striker Alexander Isak for around £60M this week & now head to Molineux intending to extend their unbeaten start to The Premier League season after going toe-to-toe with Premier League Champions Man City in a six-goal thriller:

That result left Newcastle fifth in the table after three games and looking to close the gap on The Champions League places in The Top 4 that they have increasingly threatened as 2022 with an average points per Premier League game of 1.95 this calendar year which extrapolated for the rest of this season would amount to 74 points which has meant Premier League football in 23 of the last 27 Premier League seasons.

Newcastle's progress in 2022 is the true shake-up of the established Top 6 that The Premier League has needed for years and its a return to the mid-1990s and early 2000s when The Magpies were serious contenders and competitors for The Premier League title & regularly played in European football under Kevin Keegan then Sir Bobby Robson.

So as one sleeping giant awakens in the North, down in The Midlands and Molineux, Wolves are seemingly going backwards as a club after a strident emergence from The Championship and Europe via a seventh place finish in 2018/19 earning them Europa League Football in 2019/20 where they were knocked out by Sevilla in the Quarter-Final.

This season, Wolves have had a stuttering start in The Premier League accumulating just one solitary Premier League point drawing against Fulham but losing their other two games of the season so far to Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur respectively.

Bruno Lage's men impressed at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before Harry Kane's decisive goal in a game in which the visitors fielded seven Portuguese players - an equal Premier League record for the number of foreign players in a team from the same country - including new £40M attacking midfield signing Matheus Nunes, who Newcastle must watch closely and shut down:

Former Wolves and England midfielder Paul Ince was impressed by Nunes' quality on his debut and said after the game he could potentially manoeuvre Wolves into a Top 6 or 7 place this season, a verdict which looked ambitious after their slow start and the big spending of all of the Top 6 and emergent force, Newcastle:

“Matheus Nunes is a good player but it’s a lot of money for him. They needed someone fresh in midfield because Joao Moutinho is getting on a bit and Ruben Neves’ future is still unknown.
“Nunes can play forward, get himself a goal and can play with both feet and under Bruno Lage, Wolves are more expansive so I think they’ll be OK. If they go and spend that money on a player of Nunes’ ilk then they need to be finishing in the top six or seven.”

Wolves have signed very good players over the last five years yet have also sold key men like Diego Jota to Liverpool, Matt Doherty to Spurs and Connor Coady to Everton so will find it difficult to sustain momentum while constantly selling players and Wily Boly, a one-time Toon nemesis, is another who wants to leave to join Nottingham Forest and pulled out of Wolves' Cup match midweek with Bruno Lage saying:

“The only thing I can say is that Boly with me, top behaviour, good professional, he respects my opinions, but in the morning he didn’t feel that he could play.”

Wolves may be best off going for a Cup and beat Preston North End in the Carabao Cup 2-1 with an excellent goal from another danger man Adama Traore:

Newcastle, meanwhile, no longer have any fears about retaining their best players and will build on the quality of their squad and continue to add to it every transfer window and Eddie Howe's men overcame a determined and dirty Tranmere Rovers team last night at Prenton Park to book their own place in The Carabao Cup third round:

With Newcastle's number 9 Callum Wilson pulling his hamstring in that draw against Man City and believed to be out for up to a month:

Chris Wood who scored that terrific headed winner against Tranmere will more than likely lead the Magpies line and start the match at Wolves with Alexander Isak making his debut off the bench and New Zealand's record goalscorer loves playing against Wolves, whom he scored a hat-trick against for Burnley in the 2020/21 season:

Newcastle will be hoping to extend their unbeaten start to the season and claim all three points. Eddie Howe in his pre-match presser started with the news that all Magpies fans wanted to hear - that Wilson's latest injury isn't a serious one:

On the injury front, Howe confirmed that Club Captain Jamaal Lascelles and Matt Targett who played at Tranmere will be available for the trip to Molineux:

And Here We Go! Fabrizio Romano relayed Eddie Howe's confirmation that Alexander Isak will become the club's new record signing and will be ideal for The Premier League:

That Isak buy and his presence in the squad will be the boost Newcastle need going into a potentially tricky away game and will come back with all three points.

Prediction - Newcastle 2 Wolves 1 - Isak winner off the bench.

Potential Teams: