Both Wolves and Newcastle head into Saturday’s match with great confidence following positive results last time out.
After Sylvan grabbed us a deserved point at Goodison Park, 24 hours later the Magpies put six passed Aston Villa, emphatically announcing their return to the top flight.
Mancienne - back in on another season long loan
As a consequence this game really is beautifully poised with both Mick McCarthy and Chris Hughton probably feeling this fixture represents a solid opportunity to get another early-season win and put some vital points on the board.
Interestingly, Newcastle haven’t made any significant additions to the side that won the Championship at a canter. However, some may argue their squad was already good enough to compete in the Premiership and if last weekend’s mauling of Villa is anything to go by, you’d be hard-pressed to disagree.
Experienced trio Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Alan Smith provide the know-how and with the likes of Wayne Routledge and Andy Carroll, they have a few young guns looking to prove themselves. I think this gives their side a nice balance.
Carroll in particular has been impressive in the opening two games, notching a hat-trick last weekend and causing Villa no end of problems. Craddock and Berra will certainly have their hands full trying to restrict his influence.
For Wolves, we’ll be looking for a repeat of the first-half heroics that saw off Stoke on opening day. Hopefully Steven Fletcher will recover from his severely bruised foot, as Mick McCarthy is desperately short on attacking options after allowing Andy Keogh to join Cardiff.
Adlene Guedioura must be pushing hard for a place in the starting eleven following his vital contribution in rescuing a point from Everton. I’d imagine Mick will give him a chance on the right side of midfield, with Jarvis switching to the left, Elokobi getting the axe and Ward slotting in at left-back.
There are other options too. Zubar impressed in midweek so perhaps he’s in contention. van Damme may also return and after an determined performance against Stoke, he could well return to the side.
The news has literally just broken too that Michael Mancienne has signed on another season-long loan. He will no doubt take his place amongst the substitutes on Saturday but will certainly come into contention in the coming weeks. (Read the story from the Wolves site here: http://www.wolves.co.uk/page/News/0,,10307~2135014,00.html)
Here’s my predicted eleven:
Hahnemann
Foley
Berra
Craddock
Ward
Guedioura
Henry
Jones
Jarvis
Doyle
SEB
Prediction League
You’ll all be glad to know that I lead the Prediction League having correctly guessed the two results so far. Congratulations also to New kid on the blog who, like me, has a maximum return and sits on top of the pile.
Take a bow Super Kev Doyle, David, Jon Sidwell and t’OM for getting the result spot-on at Everton last weekend.
You can look at the full table via the menu at the top of the page or by clicking here.
It’s not too late to join in, so if you’d like to make a prediction, simply do so by leaving a comment below.
This weekend, I’m going all out for 3-1 Wolves win.
If you’re going to the game, have a great time and get behind the lads.
Up The Wolves.
Would like to see Zubar return to the side after having a cracking game in midweek. And if Guedioura starts too, that’ll give us a very attacking line up.
If Fletcher is fit or not i imagine he’ll start on the bench. Tough one to call this one, but i’m going 2-1 to Wolves
Rich has beaten me to the punch. I am also going for a 2-1 Wolves win. But (again Rich takes the words out of my mouth) this is a really tough game to call. If Newcastle turn on the same style as they displayed against Villa, it could easily go the other way.
Still, for the preddo league: Wolves 2-1 Newcastle it is., and I pray that Lawro does not predict the same score on the Beeb…
zubes looked very good on tuesday, but having played about 3 hours of football on the night will he be in good condition for sat? foley’s not done anything wrong and isn’t injured so I can’t see him losing his place.
I worry about the midfield on sat, they have 3 solid midfielders, all strong tacklers and decent around the opposition box too, will henry and jones be able to compete with them? we could see 4-5-1 at half time / after an hour if things aren’t going our way.
i’m going to say 3-2, with Ince bashing in the opener, and Ndah squeezing the winner over the line.
3 hours of football Sleachy?! Didn’t he hear the final whistle?
you know what i mean! couldn’t be bothered to do the mental arithmetic so just went for the gross exaggeration option instead!
Ìt is a difficult call, our squad gets bigger and better with Mancienne, glad he`s back because if Henry got injured we`d have a problem.
I also think a 2-1 win is on the cards, its just a pity that the club shop don`t sell brown wolves boxer shorts, it will be edge of the seat stuff. I reckon Newcastle will have a go against us, will make for a good open game which means Routledge running at pace aginst Ward, so skweekey bum time. No doubt Ward will stand so far off the winger he`ll be sitting in row six in the north bank.
That apart Jarvis will hurt their fullbacks, and if our defence is as solid as last week at Goodison, we should just edge it.
Hi Clive – saved you an entry mate.
We have to win there there at some point and I’m going 0-2. Carroll and Routledge with the goals. See you wolves fans on saturday!! come on the toon
To be fair gary, there hasn’t been many games between the two clubs in recent times.
We won that cracker of an FA Cup tie back in 2002 and if memory serves we drew 1-1 the last time we were both in the Premiership.
Could go either way this one. Hope you have a great day out if you’re coming down for the match, apart from the 90 minutes in the middle of it of course.
just read that they’ve not beaten us at Mol since 1958, losing 12 and drawing 5 of their visits up to now. even when they had Shearer they couldn’t manage more than a point, and we all remember what happened the season before that when they came in the cup….
Thanks Thomas, I will do. Don’t suppose you know many watering holes for us away fans.
There the two games I was thinking of, Ince scoring a screamer!
Good luck for the season but not for saturday
Well, normally I would recommend the Clarendon, which is in Chapel Ash, about a ten minute walk from the ground. That’s where I always go. It’s busy, but you don’t get any trouble.
However, before the first game of the season against Stoke, I did spot a sign outside that read ‘No Away Fans’, but that might just have been because they were worried about trouble between our two sets of fans.
Anyway, you can try there if you want. Here’s a map with directions from the pub to the ground:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=the+clarendon+wolverhampton&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=the+clarendon&hnear=Wolverhampton&cid=0,0,7766256908383916036&ei=qVZ2TPrjKNm5jAesh7WzBg&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CB0QnwIwAA
Obviously if you’re not wearing your shirt, you’ll be alright to get in either way.
If you’d prefer to walk into Wolverhampton city center, I recommend the Hogs Head, which has lots of TVs and is only a short walk away from the ground.
Thanks very much for that, much appreciated. A few of the lads have spoke about going into the centre and if only a short walk from the ground that sounds ideal.
were leaving pretty sharp on sat morning so I would guess we’ll be in the bar by 11.30.
Thanks for info
I’d agree with that team Thomas, I think Guediora is our best choice on the right at the moment and as much as I love the big man I don’t feel comfortable with Elekobi at left back.
I’m hoping last week was a bit of a fluke for N’castle, it seemed that everything they tried came off, I really can’t see them repeating that performance but can we really go the first 3 game without loosing? It’s a toughie but I’m going for a 1-0 win for Wolves, SEB again.
Hopefully Fletcher will be fit, how nice will it be to have the option of bringing someone of his quality on after 60 mins.
We’ve already gone 3 games without losing.
FOWB
And we’ve lost two in thirteen, not bad eh?
2-1 win to wolves.
Just had a thought, can zubes play as a LB? that would solve many a problem if he could…
If i remember rightly, Mancienne played at least one game at left back when he first came on loan and did alright too. Seems to me a good way to get another very good player into the team.
I am hoping that Newcastle will be over confident coming into this game and may under estimate the game we play – ie in your face – if that happens and if the Wolves continue to perform as they have been doing then I’ll go for a 2-0 Wolves as its about time we had a clean sheet!
2-1 Wolves. A couple of early goals for us followed by a second half away goal to give the usual excruciatingly horrible and tense final few mins as we hang on
Cagey…..Nil Nil for me.
I’m still concerned on the goals front…..
2-0 Wolves, SEB to follow up with another goal a Craddock header!
4 – 0 to the lads.
Barton and Smith to argue and have a fight over letting in the first goal in the opening minutes, and both get sent off.
Ward to limp off with twisted blood, never to play again.
The shit to get stuffed 0 – 6 again, who ever they are playing.
All in all, a perfect day out!!!!!!
FOWB
im thinking a cracking match but with limited goals. wolves to snatch it 1-0 with a cracker in the 80 – 90th minute.
put me down for 2 – 0 Wolves, Doyle and Jarvis to score.
definatly Jarvis on the left and Guediora on the right. Jarvis offers far more on the left for me and I think Guediora’s presence could help
I’m going for 3-1 Wolves after my pessimistic 0-3 guess against Everton. SEB to continue his goal scoring and to slience all the doubters. 3 games 7 points!
Wolves 0 Newcastle 2 … reality check time
2-1 Wolves. Fingers crossed.
Wolves 2-1 Newcastle
Wolves 1 – 0 Newcastle. Gritty.
I see Lawro’s gone 2-1. A lot of you guys will be struggling now.
Aaack!! … that’s just what I didn’t want
I don’t think we should read too much into them beating Villa 6-0, they were awful and i see Villa let in another 3 at home last night.On the other hand they do have goals in them and i’ll be fairly happy with a 2-2 draw. And i hope Wardy gets em both.
2 goals fom Ward???????????
Are you in the pub already??????????
You will be lucky to get 2 passes from him, useless sack of shite that he is.
FOWB
High praise Clive
Massive game…going to go 2-1 Wolves (with Doyle getting both).
Still continuing with my superstiton from the first game of the season so i’m sticking with my 0-0 predictions while we are on this unbeaten streak!!
Really tight game, maybe just the one goal in it, but im going 5-all.
2-0
SEB & Jones.
hey lads, im a newcastle fan from another blog and thought id just say good luck for tomorrow and that, its gonna be a close one to call, but obviously im going to go with newcastle for a 2-1 win
ill be down there tomorrow so look forward to my first time at the molineux. keep your eye out for carroll, he’ll be one of the few strikers this season that will match your centre backs in the air so it will be a good battle to watch 
Nice one Totsy.
We should swap interviews when the return fixture rolls around. I’ll ping you an email.
Yeah, looking forward to seeing Carroll tomorrow. Hopefully our centre backs will cope better with him than Villa did.
Really have little idea how this one will pan out. Hoping another solid Wolves performance will be enough to give us the edge.
Enjoy your visit to Molineux.
Wolves 3 – 0 Newcastle. They shot their load last week and we are due for few.
2 – 0 wolves. berra, adlene
1-0 to Wolves (SEB), I heard Carroll might not be fit…
And Jarvis is in the provisional 30 man squad for England
2-0 jarvis, doyle
Gotta write this now.
As of 11.00am Houston time, we are third in the league, ahead of Utd, Spurs Liverpool etc, and who is at the bottom of the pile, The shit closely followed by the Villa.
Of course this will all change, but what a lovely sight, even if only for a few hours!!!
FOWB
Everton and Liverpool in bottom 4 …lol
Reality check time.
I finally got to see the match, all of it, and we are in for a tough season if CL continues to play that line up.
Hahnemann looked nervous, and who can blame him with that defense.
We were a shambles. I said the other week we would be found wanting against a free flowing, fast attack, and Newcastle were not even that good!!
I thought Van Damme was a left back?
I thought Jarvis was a left winger?
I thought ( still do) that Ward was crap, but he did make one game saving tackle at the end.
But overall, the game stunk, and so did we.
The ref didn’t help, totally ruined the flow of the game, and to be honest, thank god he did, coz we were getting over run all the time.
I thought Henry had a good game as well as Zubar and the Algerian when they came on, but everyone else was rubbish.
We are gonna get creamed when we play the quick teams.
Still, the positives from the day are that we are in the top 5, and who would not have taken that before the season started.
Wigan, who have been stuffed twice already, go to Spurms and win, and
we will be up there for at least 2 weeks, with the shit below us!!
I predicted West Ham and Stoke to struggle this season, they are both looking good for Division 2 already!!
Have a nice day, y’all
FOWB
Zubar was poor. His first ‘touch’ was to give away the free kick which provided the equalizer. Then, later on in the half, he completely cocked up an attacking position. In between, he did little of note.
Agree about USA though, he looked way out of position on a couple of crosses, and was in no-man’s land for their goal (mind you, he could have expected somebody to at least put in a challenge on Carroll).
Berra frankly looked slightly intimidated by Carroll. (Where’s Myokoulo?! – he wasn’t even on the bench?) I guess Carroll will get the “shock” England call-up that everyone has been speculating about …
Van Damme was a real mixed bag. Some stuff he did was great (the cross for SEB’s lovely goal), other stuff was awful (studs into the back of Gutierrez’s calf). I predict he’ll see a red card or two before the season’s end.
I thought Ward did okay. No, really.
But I enjoyed the game despite all the yellow cards and stoppages by the ”I’m from Warwickshire so I probably support Villa” biased referee. Some very tasty midfield clashes and a full-blooded affair, as they say. Newcastle were very phyisical, and they have a decent front line. I can see both teams in mid-table come the season’s end.