Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers both will be looking for a victory to boost their European hopes in a pivotal clash on Saturday.
Hosts Newcastle (11-11-4, 37 points) enter the weekend in 10th place in the Premier League and one point back of Wolves (11-10-5, 36) during a season in which they’ve learned that the one thing more difficult than reaching Europe is staying there.
After the Magpies finished fourth a season ago to qualify for their first UEFA Champions League appearance in more than two decades, a combination of injuries and fixture congestion in December contributed to a run of one win in eight games in all competitions. When it was over, Eddie Howe’s club had slid significantly in the league table and finished last in their UCL group.
But since the new year began, the Magpies have gotten healthy and have losses only to Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal, the three teams at the top of the table.
And they don’t have an opponent remaining on the league schedule in the current top four, though they will play Manchester City in the FA Cup quarterfinals after advancing past the fifth round on penalties following a 1-1 draw at Blackburn on Tuesday.
“We can’t drop too many points, whether home or away,” Howe said of his team’s ability to claim one of potentially eight European places from the league table. “We know we are running out of chances; we have to start Saturday. There is no easy game in the Premier League but we have to start winning consistently.”
Howe should have his top two league scorers Alexander Isak (10 goals) and Anthony Gordon (eight) at his disposal, with the latter having put in the opener at Blackburn.
Wolves boss Gary O’Neil won’t be so lucky, after seeing Hee-Chan Hwang (10 goals) depart with a hamstring injury during his side’s 1-0 FA Cup triumph over Brighton on Wednesday night.
With Matheus Cunha already out (nine goals), that means O’Neil will have to be creative in terms of fielding a squad that can provide a true attacking threat.
“I knew there were some players that were a risk for the midweek cup game but Channy was feeling fine before,” O’Neil said of the decision to start Hwang against Brighton. “Obviously things like that can happen. It’s disappointing we’ve lost Channy because we know how important he can be to us.”
But O’Neil will be encouraged by how his side has fared without the South Korean while he was serving on international duty at the Asia Cup earlier this year. The Wolves have lost only twice in their last 13 games in all competitions, a large chunk of which came without their striker.
–Field Level Media
