Alexander Isak is in rare air now. The Newcastle United striker scored in his eighth straight Premier League game and added an assist in a 3-0 win over Wolves, a result that pushed Eddie Howe’s team up to fourth on a booming night at St James’ Park. Isak’s first-half strike and a calm second after the break set the tone before Anthony Gordon killed it off late on.
The numbers around Newcastle’s surge keep climbing. This was nine wins in a row in all competitions, six of them in the league during Isak’s streak. It leaves the Magpies on 38 points from 21 matches, right in the Champions League mix. For Wolves, the picture turned darker: 16 points from 21 and a drop back into the relegation zone, which reflects the same issue that stung them here—too many loose moments in their own box.
How the night unfolded
Wolves actually settled first. Goncalo Guedes flashed an early effort just wide and their front line looked lively on the break. Newcastle responded quickly. Jose Sa had to push away a skidding effort from Jacob Murphy from the edge of the area, a warning that the home side were starting to find their rhythm.
The breakthrough came on 34 minutes with a dash of fortune. Isak’s shot took a nick off Rayan Ait-Nouri and wrong-footed Sa. St James’ Park exploded and, just like that, the game tilted. Wolves wobbled, yet still carried a threat. Jorgen Strand Larsen twice rattled the woodwork—fine margins that kept Newcastle honest either side of halftime—while Santiago Bueno briefly thought he had equalised before a VAR check chalked it off for handball.
Newcastle’s second, on 57 minutes, told the story of where both sides are. Given a yard of space inside the box, Isak didn’t hesitate, steering home with the kind of calm that’s become his trademark. Wolves backed off a touch, he didn’t. From there, gaps opened as the visitors chased the game and the hosts showed their edge in transition.
The third goal summed up the mood in the stadium. On 74 minutes, Isak rolled a neat pass into Gordon, who shifted inside and finished low. The winger had been a nuisance all night, and that strike matched his performance—sharp, direct, efficient.
For Wolves, the moments that could have changed the game will linger. Larsen’s headers smacked the frame at the worst possible time, and Bueno’s disallowed goal robbed them of momentum. Sa kept the scoreline from getting ugly with a handful of solid stops, but the defending in front of him—especially when Newcastle pulled their back line around with quick combinations—wasn’t tight enough.
Why it matters for both clubs
Isak’s form is the headline. His eight-game scoring run puts him in a select club with Jamie Vardy, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Daniel Sturridge. He’s on 15 league goals now, and this wasn’t just about finishing. The assist for Gordon showed the other side of his game: the awareness to slip the right pass at the right time. When your centre-forward scores and creates, everything else looks easier.
Newcastle’s structure helped, too. The midfield trio of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes, and Joelinton controlled most phases, mixing bite with calm on the ball. Tonali set the tempo with simple forward passes, Guimaraes linked play and broke lines, and Joelinton bullied second balls. Out wide, Murphy and Gordon stretched Wolves, dragging defenders into awkward spots and creating lanes for Isak. At the back, Dan Burn and Sven Botman won their battles, while Lewis Hall and Valentino Livramento picked the right moments to step on, then tuck back in when Wolves tried to spring a counter.
The difference was in the penalty areas. Newcastle took their big chances; Wolves did not. That’s not to say the visitors lacked courage. They ventured forward, and at 1-0 they had Newcastle sweating for a spell. But under Vitor Pereira they’ve struggled to stitch a full 90 together. The lapses—space conceded on the edge of the box, a loose touch here, a runner not tracked there—keep dragging them into trouble. When you’re near the bottom, those details decide games.
There’s a bit of history in the air with Isak’s run. Vardy owns the Premier League record at 11. Whether Isak can chase that down will come down to the same habits that got him here: clean movement, quick decisions, and teammates finding him early. Defences will start tailoring plans for him, but he doesn’t need many touches to hurt you, and that makes him hard to scheme out of a match.
Beyond the numbers, the mood around Newcastle is hard to miss. Under the lights, with a full house roaring every tackle and sprint, there’s a belief that wasn’t there a few months ago. The top four talk isn’t taboo anymore. It’s grounded in the way they manage games—turning control into chances, and chances into points.
For Wolves, the table doesn’t lie. Dropping back into the bottom three brings a different kind of pressure, the kind that tightens legs late in games. The upside? They created enough here to feel they’re not far off. If Pereira can tidy up the defensive shape and keep the attacking threat from Larsen and Guedes, they have a path out. With the January window open, there are decisions to make about reinforcements, but organisation and conviction will matter just as much as any signing.
Newcastle leave with everything they wanted: three goals, a clean sheet, and their star striker still red-hot. Wolves leave feeling they were in the game longer than the score suggests, but once again punished for small mistakes. On a night that could have swung either way for a while, it was the team with better habits—and the sharper finisher—that walked away smiling.
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