Isak extends hot streak to sink Wolves and lift Newcastle into top four

Isak extends hot streak to sink Wolves and lift Newcastle into top four

Newcastle’s sixth successive Premier League win – and ninth in all competitions – lifted Eddie Howe’s renascent team to fourth place as Alexander Isak demonstrated precisely why his manager believes he is a good as any striker in the world right now.

Isak’s 16th and 17th goals of an extraordinary season pushed Wolves into the relegation zone, nudging them below fourth bottom Ipswich on goal difference but Vitor ­Pereira’s side offered sufficient attacking threat to suggest survival should be within their grasp.

“It’s quite an achievement for Alex, he has that extra second of composure all top strikers possess,” Howe said. “But we weren’t perfect. I don’t think we’re totally fixed and I don’t think the scoreline was a fair reflection of the game. Wolves are a good, difficult, team and always had a goal threat. Martin Dubravka had to make some key saves. There’s lots for us to be positive about but lots to improve.”

Pereira has managed nine clubs in seven countries since leaving Porto in 2013 but all that vast, ­eclectic, experience ultimately failed to enable Wolves’ new(ish) coach from ­exploiting the, albeit currently latent, mortal streak in Howe’s suddenly irrepressible, seemingly unstoppable side.

The Portuguese had told his ­players that Newcastle were “not supermen” and the visitors certainly began in suitably undaunted mode with ­Gonçalo Guedes ­shooting narrowly wide from eight yards after Sven Botman deflected Hwang Hee‑Chan’s cross into his path.

As the minutes passed and an Isak shot grazed the outside of a post, Pereira and his staff became increasingly infuriated by some of the officiating. They seemed in peril of implosion when Dan Burn escaped unpunished after felling Guedes and their mood hardly improved when, in the 34th minute, fortune frowned on the Wolves backline.

Anthony Gordon completes the scoring for Newcastle.View image in fullscreen

Isak’s 16th goal in 23 appearances came courtesy of a hefty deflection that re-routed an originally highly speculative shot from the edge of the area beyond a wrong-footed José Sá. It meant the Sweden striker becomes part of an elite quartet of strikers – Jamie Vardy, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Daniel Sturridge are the other three – to have scored in eight successive Premier League matches.

Wolves, though, still menaced on the counterattack and, at the end of one such break, Jørgen Strand Larsen met Rodrigo Gomes’s cross before brushing a shot against a post. Lewis Hall will not relish watching replays of Gomes zipping past him.

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Pereira introduced Matheus Cunha at the outset of the second half and a forward newly liberated from suspension seemed anxious to make up for lost time. Yet despite Cunha, whose slick touch and insidious movement suggested he probably should have started, swiftly stretching Botman and co to the limit no one proved capable of preventing Isak scoring his 12th goal in 10 games. It involved a ­stellar defence‑splitting Bruno Guimarães pass and a seamless swivel on the Swede’s part before the ball was stroked past Sá.

Next Isak showed off his selfless side, his cross permitting Gordon’s first‑time strike to finally strip any remnants of swagger from Wolves’ step. By way of emphasising this was not the visitors’ night, Santiago Bueno had a late “goal” bundled beyond Dubravka from a corner ­disallowed for handball following a VAR review before a goalkeeper celebrating his 36th birthday saved brilliantly at Strand Larsen’s feet.

As home fans pondered whether Newcastle can make it a perfect 10 wins in a row against Bournemouth here on Saturday, Pereira turned ­sanguine: “I’m so proud of my ­players, we had maybe six or seven chances to score against a strong, high‑calibre team with a quality striker,” he said. “We tried everything but this is football.”

Source: theguardian.com