Anything you can do… Ruben Neves’ strike from outside the box was cancelled out by a stunning volley on the edge of the box from Allan Saint-Maximin as Wolverhampton Wanderers drew 1-1 with Newcastle United at Molineux.
The Magpies maintained their unbeaten start to the season as they had to dig deep to rescue a point as Wolves largely gave a strong defensive performance. The Frenchman had mostly been quiet throughout the match as full-backs Nelson Semedo and Jonny did extremely well to thwart his threat on the ball. Following on from his three assists against Manchester City last time out, Saint-Maximin made himself the hero again as we appear to be seeing more end product from the tricky winger. There was some concern not long after, however, as the winger was forced off after picking up an injury.
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For Wolves, a lot has been said about their goalscoring problems and we have seen signs that they are developing into more of a threat. Bruno Lage’s side created plenty of promising openings against Newcastle and they’ll feel frustrated by some of the chances they didn’t take. Despite having a late goal ruled out by VAR, forward Raul Jimenez will take confidence from this match as he looks to reach the bar which he set when he first moved to the West Midlands.
With recent arrivals Matheus Nunes and Goncalo Guedes still settling, there was some exciting link-up play in attack and once one of them gets off the mark for the season there could be a chain reaction for each of them to share the goal burden with their Mexican frontman. According to reports they are looking to add VFB Stuttgart striker Sasa Kalajdzic to their ranks before the transfer window closes, to inject more firepower into the side.
Lage will be concerned with how the game ended as his side are now winless in their last 11 Premier League matches and currently find themselves in the bottom three with two draws and two losses so far in 2022-23.
As far as the game went, Pedro Neto had an early chance to put the hosts in front following a low ball in from Guedes but he couldn’t direct his effort on target. Newcastle carved out their own chance minutes later. Joe Willock found the ball at his feet from a few yards out and fired his effort narrowly wide.
Wolves’ new boy Nunes could have made it a home debut to remember as he found himself in plenty of space in the box to meet a ball in from the left, but he couldn’t keep his header down. The deadlock was broken just before the break and it was the hosts who were jubilant as Neves delivered one of his trademark long-range rockets to fire his side into the lead.
Things almost got worse for the Magpies after the break as a reckless challenge by Fabian Schar on Neto was reviewed by VAR for a possible red card offence, but the Swiss defender escaped with a yellow. The away fans thought they had equalised soon after as an inviting cross from Miguel Almiron was touched inches wide by Nathan Collins and along the side netting.
As the game progressed to the latter stages, Newcastle began to start piling the pressure on the Wolves defence but the Old Gold players stood firm. The hosts then thought they’d wrapped up the three points when Jimenez put the ball into the back of the net only for VAR to cancel it out for a foul committed by Neto in the build-up.
This spurred Newcastle on to push for the equaliser and it fell right at the end of normal time as a lapse clearance by Wolves dropped perfectly for Saint-Maximin on the edge of the box, and he cannoned his volley past a helpless Jose Sa.
Elsewhere, West Ham United secured their first win of the season against Aston Villa at Villa Park. Pablo Fornals’ second-half strike was the difference between the two sides and David Moyes’ side reacted well to a poor first half. This match was a must-win for the Hammers as like Villa, they have had an underwhelming start to the season. Steven Gerrard will have to go back to the drawing board as his team have now suffered back-to-back defeats, and it will be interesting to see how this further affects their plans in the last few days of the transfer window.
