Newcastle United’s ‘massive’ injury boost v Wolves as Gary O’Neil anticipates ‘aggressive’ clash

Gary O’Neil believes the return of Alexander Isak is a ‘massive plus’ for Newcastle United ahead of his side’s clash with the Magpies at St James’ Park. The Swedish international made his first start in almost a month against Arsenal last weekend after suffering a calf injury during the win over Aston Villa in January.

Isak started again during their FA Cup penalty shootout win over Blackburn Rovers in midweek, lasting just more than an hour before being replaced by Harvey Barnes. The 24-year-old missed the reverse fixture at Molineux through injury but did score in this fixture last season with a brilliantly taken header.

O’Neil, who was in the Bournemouth dugout as Isak netted his first goal at St James’ Park back in September 2022, has revealed his excitement ahead of his side’s trip to the north east later today, whilst admitting his side will have to watch out for Isak: “I’m really looking forward to Saturday,” O’Neil said, “because it’s an incredible place to go, St James’ Park, and it’s a real good test because they come at you with everything there.

“They’re really aggressive and hopefully the boys can show once again that we can stand up to good sides and give a real good account of ourselves. They’ve suffered really badly with injuries. I talk about ours, but ours have only ever been one or two, but because of the size of our squad, that always feels like it has a big impact. Newcastle have suffered far more than that and have had a lot of key players missing, which makes it extremely tough.

“They’ve had a tough time, especially with the extra games they’ve had to play in Europe, but a lot of players are coming back now – Isak is a massive plus for them, so they’ll be a threat. We go there expecting to face a Newcastle team who are very dangerous.”

Wolves will be without both of their joint-top scorers Matheus Cunha and Hwang Hee-chan at the weekend, however. Cunha has been sidelined with a hamstring injury for a few weeks whilst Hee-chan picked up an injury against Brighton on Wednesday night and has been ruled-out of the trip to St James’ Park.