Wolverhampton Wanderers will endeavour to make it back-to-back wins in the Premier League when they welcome Newcastle United to Molineux for Saturday's clash.
Bruno Lage's side marched to a 1-0 victory over Southampton in gameweek six, whereas the Magpies could only draw 1-1 away to Watford.
Match preview
© Reuters
Aside from the home crowd at St Mary's, football fans across the globe reacted with delight when Raul Jimenez got off the mark for the new season against Southampton, with the Mexican striker scoring the game's only goal to hand Wolves a precious three points.
After latching onto a long ball from Jose Sa - another key player in Wolves' crucial success on the day - Jimenez beat Jan Bednarek and Mohammed Salisu all ends up to score in front of the Wolves faithful for the first time since his sickening skull fracture almost a year ago.
Lage's side were in desperate need of a confidence-boosting win following previous losses to Brentford and Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League and EFL Cup respectively, but it has nevertheless been a challenging start to the Portuguese's reign as his side sit 14th in the table with six points.
Both of Wolves' wins this season have come away from home, though, with Lage's men playing four and losing four in all competitions at Molineux this term, while they have suffered three home league defeats on the bounce without scoring a single goal.
Only basement side Norwich City (2) have scored fewer goals than Wolves (3) in their opening six matches, but with a revitalised Jimenez finally off the mark for the new campaign, Lage will be praying for his talisman to kick on and end the hosts' torrid fortunes in front of goal at Molineux.
© Reuters
A goal worthy of winning any match was scored by an unlikely Newcastle source at Vicarage Road last weekend, as Sean Longstaff's peach of a strike proved too powerful for Ben Foster to keep out as the Magpies took a 1-0 lead into half time against Watford.
However, the hosts' wing king Ismaila Sarr was inexplicably allowed to drift into acres of space at the back stick from a corner, and the 23-year-old had the simple task of heading home to prevent Newcastle from claiming their first win of the season.
Steve Bruce's men are one of five teams yet to win in the 2021-22 season - an all-too familiar story for the St James' Park faithful - and the Magpies currently occupy 17th position in the table having managed to claim three points from their last four fixtures.
While Wolves have had their troubles in front of goal this term, Newcastle's tally of seven strikes at least represents the best record of all the winless sides, but 14 shipped at the other end is the joint-second highest in the division alongside Leeds United and above Norwich.
Newcastle and Wolves have developed an affinity for stalemates in seasons gone by, with the last five meetings between the pair all ending 1-1, but Wolves claimed a 2-1 win at St James' Park back in December 2018 under Nuno Espirito Santo.
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
- L
- W
- L
- L
- D
- L
- D
- D
- L
- L
- D
- L
- D
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Wolves' long-term victims Yerson Mosquera, Pedro Neto and Jonny are unlikely to play again before 2022, but Rayan Ait Nouri could return after missing the win over Southampton due to concussion protocol.
Francisco Trincao and Adama Traore dropped out for Daniel Podence and Hwang Hee-chan at St Mary's, but the latter could return as fans lick their lips at the prospect of a Traore vs. Allan Saint-Maximin battle.
Ruben Neves found himself on the bench last time out and could be in a similar predicament this weekend, with Leander Dendoncker impressing in the win over the Saints.
Newcastle midfielder Joe Willock made a surprise appearance against Watford after initially being ruled out of the contest, but Jamaal Lascelles, Jonjo Shelvey, Martin Dubravka and Callum Wilson all remain out.
Paul Dummett and Freddie Woodman are also sidelined, but it is difficult to see Bruce making too many alterations from the side that came so close yet so far against Norwich.
Saint-Maximin provided the assist for Longstaff's goal to take his tally to five goal contributions from six matches in the new league season, and the ever-tricky Frenchman ought to be supported by Joelinton and Miguel Almiron once more.
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Kilman, Coady, Saiss; Semedo, Dendoncker, Moutinho, Marcal; Traore, Jimenez, Hwang
Newcastle United possible starting lineup:
Darlow; Manquillo, Fernandez, Clark, Ritchie; Almiron, Longstaff, Willock, Hayden, Joelinton; Saint-Maximin
We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Newcastle United
Another 1-1 draw between the two bottom-half clubs is not beyond the realm of possibility, especially with Newcastle playing out two such stalemates of their own in the last two gameweeks.
The battle for supremacy between Traore and Saint-Maximin could make this a fascinating watch for the neutrals, and with Wolves failing to deliver on their own patch so far, we can realistically envisage a sixth 1-1 scoreline on the bounce in this fixture.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Wolverhampton Wanderers win with a probability of 43.17%. A draw had a probability of 30.2% and a win for Newcastle United had a probability of 26.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Wolverhampton Wanderers win was 1-0 with a probability of 15.61%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.09%) and 2-1 (7.68%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 0-0 (13.42%), while for a Newcastle United win it was 0-1 (11.33%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 7.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Wolverhampton Wanderers would win this match.
