The international break is over and Premier League football returns to St James’ Park in a game that could really kickstart our season after a tricky few weeks on Tyneside.
With the Alexander Isak saga over, the transfer window finally closed, new strikers in and a winless Wolves arriving on Tyneside after three straight defeats, this feels like a perfect chance to get our first three points and a fresh start to finally get our 2025/26 season up and running.
It’s been a tough start for a few reasons, featuring two 0-0 draws on the road and that painful 3-2 defeat to Liverpool, with the overall theme being one of missed chances costing us in the absence of a goalscorer up until this point.
Sadly, we’ll be without £55m Yoane Wissa for this one and must keep our fingers crossed that his knee issue is nothing serious, but Saturday could offer Nick Woltemade the perfect opportunity to hit the ground running in a black and white shirt as our new £69m and 6ft 6″ club record signing!
What is clear, however, is we must play to Nick’s strengths. Get the ball to his feet, support him with runners around him and resist the temptation to ‘pump it long to the big man’ like Germany did all too often over the break. He can pin defenders with his size and likes to play with his back to goal, but he isn’t a natural in the air and may take time to get up speed with the physicality of the Premier League, so we must give him time and support as a team and fanbase.
Team news
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Eddie Howe revealed a double blow on Friday morning, confirming that Yoane Wissa (knee) and Jacob Ramsay (ankle) will miss this game, with the latter set to be out until after October’s international break.
The good news, however, is that Nick Woltemade has trained well, Joelinton is back, Sven Botman is OK after limping off at Leeds and Lewis Hall is back in contention after building up his fitness over the break.
Anthony Gordon remains out through suspension, while Wolves’ star striker (and recent Newcastle target!) Jorgen Strand Larsen has been ruled out, meaning new signing Tolu Arokodare or Hwang Hee-chan could start up top instead.
Predicted XI
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(4-3-3) _Pope – Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall – Bruno, Tonali, Joelinton – Murphy, Woltemade, Barnes._
With Wissa and Ramsey out, Gordon still suspended and Joelinton fit again, a few areas of the team now feel easier to predict, especially when you consider Eddie Howe’s pre-match comments.
In goal, I think Howe stands by Nick Pope, but I do see a change coming at the back. It’s tough to know how the boss will approach this given we have Barcelona (Thursday) and Bournemouth (Sunday) to come next week, but I can see Kieran Trippier’s experience being used against Barca and Tino Livramento taking on Lamine Yamal from left-back that night, so I’m backing Lewis Hall to come into the side against Wolves, giving us that added balance and creativity down a side set to miss Gordon and Ramsey’s spark.
At centre-back, we’ll surely go back to two after Sven Botman made up a three-man back line at Leeds, and I don’t see Fabian Schar or Dan Burn being dropped after two clean sheets in our opening three games.
Moving into midfield, Ramsay’s injury and Joelinton’s return makes that area of the pitch fairly clean cut, although Bruno Guimaraes is one to manage given he played 90 minutes in the world’s high-altitude stadium over in Bolivia in the early hours of Wednesday morning! If we can, I’d like to see Bruno come off around the 60 or 70 minute mark here, giving Miley minutes and our skipper a few minutes rest ahead of Barcelona and Bournemouth next week.
In attack, Howe’s pre-match comments, Wissa’s injury and Osula’s inability to lead the line just yet make me believe it will be Nick Woltemade in from the off, with Harvey Barnes almost certain to come back in down our left.
On the right wing, I’d like to see Anthony Elanga, but his pace could be vital against Barcelona’s high line next week and Jacob Murphy has had a few extra days to train with Woltemade, so I can see the latter starting this one.
Match prediction
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This almost feels like our first game of the season now new strikers are in, the Isak saga is over and the dust has finally settled after one of the most chaotic summers we’ve ever seen at Newcastle.
It’s a massive game to get our season properly up and running and a very winnable one against a Wolves side who are the only Premier League team to lose all three of their opening games, conceding eight in the process.
Woltemade and Barnes to score in a solid home win in our first weekend fixture on home turf of 2025/26!
**Prediction:** Newcastle 2-0 Wolves
Howay the lads!