Wolves v Newcastle: Magpies could make it tough for hosts

Wolves have taken a while to get going in recent games and that trend could continue at home to Newcastle, says Dave Tindall...

Wolves v Newcastle
Sunday, 17:30

Wolves gathering momentum

After the 3-1 defeat to Manchester City, Wolves' next five fixtures read: West Ham (a), Fulham (h), Leeds (a), Newcastle (h), Crystal Palace (h).

They fluffed their lines big time at West Ham but now appear to be cashing in on their favourable run thanks to back-to-back wins over Fulham and Leeds.

solid defence has been the key, clean sheets meaning a single goal was enough in both matches to seal maximum points.

The shutout against Fulham was a seventh shutout in their last nine Premier League games at Molineux so they really are expert at keeping visiting teams at bay.

Wolves head into the Match Day 6 fixtures in sixth place and have an obvious chance to climb higher with 13th-placed Newcastle the visitors.

That said, the two sides played out a pair of 1-1 draws last season.

Mixed start for Magpies

It's been an up and down start for Newcastle.

They started with an impressive 2-0 win at West Ham, stole (choice of word intended) a point at Spurs after a controversial last-gasp penalty and scored a first home win by defeating Burnley 3-1.

But that's balanced by a limp 3-0 home defeat by Brighton and a 4-1 reversal against Manchester United.

However, the latter needs some detail. Steve Bruce's men were level at 1-1 with four minutes to go before conceding a hat-trick of late goals.

The obvious positive spin is Newcastle's good away form. They've yet to lose in four road trips when adding in EFL Cup results.

They head to Molineux looking to remain unbeaten through their first three away games of a Premier League season for the first time since 2011-12 under Alan Pardew.

Win to nil better option for Wolves backers

The Match Odds show Wolves at 1.78 to record victory.

Newcastle are 5.8 to travel back home with three points while The Draw is 3.65.

However, that basic home win price can be bumped up to 2.66 if we take the Wolves Win to Nil option.

There are certainly strong grounds for doing that as each of Wolves' last eight wins in the top-flight have been to nil.

Or to put it another way, if Wolves concede, they struggle to get over the line.

On the historical head-to-heads, Newcastle have done rather well at Molineux, avoiding defeat in their last six visits.

Four of those have been draws and stalemates between this pair have been the dominant result. Including last season's two 1-1s, seven of the last 10 Premier League clashes have ended all-square.

It's been a less happy hunting ground for Newcastle boss Steve Bruce, who has lost five of his last seven starts there, the other two ending in draws.

Low goal count expected and game may be slow to fizzle

It's perhaps no surprise given the birthplace of their manager and several of the players but Wolves have the air of Portugal's Euro 2016 winners. They set up not to lose and hope to have enough at the other end of the pitch to nick the win.

There's no Cristiano Ronaldo of course but Raul Jimenez is one of the Premier League's most consistent scorers and his albeit fortunate winner at Elland Road made it three in five.

Talking of that ratio, Under 2.5 goals has landed in three of Wolves' five Premier League games so far and 1.74 is the clear favourite here.

Overs is 2.26 but it's hard to see much appeal in that.

Newcastle look likely to take a safety-first approach and they offered virtually nothing going forward in their last away game - that 1-1 draw at Tottenham.

Both teams to Score reflects the feeling of a low goal count with 'No' just 1.83 and 'Yes2.16.

One trend with Wolves so far this season is that since catching Sheffield United cold with two early goals, they haven't scored in the first half of their last four Premier League matches.

It's a fair bet that this continues in what could be a cat-and-mouse affair.

Therefore, given that games between these two are usually tight, I'm going to say it'll be deadlock in the first 45 and put up a couple of bets in the Half Time/Full Time market.

Draw/Wolves looks a likely scenario and can be backed at 4.8.

And it's also worth chancing that they don't manage to take control after the break. In which case, also try Draw/Draw at 5.4.

Jimenez worth a look in Same Game Multi market

Since the start of last season, Raul Jimenez has scored more winning goals in the Premier League than any other player (10).

There's an obvious way to try and cash in - head to the Same Game Multi market and back Jimenez to score in a Wolves win at 2.61. If making that Jimenez to score first, the price jumps to 4.69.

Opta Stat

Since a 0-0 draw in their first ever top-flight meeting at Wolves in December 1898, Newcastle have kept only two clean sheets in their 37 such trips since (2-0 in March 1906 and 1-0 in May 1951), conceding 52 goals in 25 games since their most recent shutout.

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