Newcastle and Wolverhampton Wanderers shared the points at Molineux tonight with a 2-2 draw.
Callum Wilson was on the scoresheet twice for Newcastle this evening as Wolves twice came from behind to snatch a draw with Newcastle.
The Newcastle striker opened the scoring, capitalising on a Jose Sa error as he failed to hold on to a cross. The ball fell to Wilson who fired a shot that was blocked by a defender and bounced up for Wilson to control the ball with his head and fire in an overhead kick.
Wolves were back on level terms 14 minutes later as Newcastle conceded from a set-piece for the first time this season. Nick Pope thought he was doing the Hokey Cokey as he ran off his line and back to it as the cross fell to Mario Lemina to nod home.
It was the Anthony Taylor show as the referee made some questionable decisions all game, but none were as controversial as his decision to award Newcastle a penalty after Fabian Schar was felled in the box as Hwang Hee-Chan tried to clear the ball.
Taylor gave the penalty and after a lengthy check by VAR the on-field decision stood. However, replays showed that contact on Schar was minimal and that Hwang had actually pulled out of the challenge. But the length of time it took to check meant that it wasn't a clear and obvious error by the referee and the penalty was given. Callum Wilson kept his 100% record from the spot as he fired home after Jose Sa got a strong touch on the way through.
Alan Shearer had his say on the decision on X and even he didn't feel it was a penalty, using a few laughing emojis to make his point.
"Not a pen for me"
Hwang made up for conceding the penalty by scoring Wolves' equaliser after another error by Nick Pope. After failing to catch a cross and opting to punch the ball out of the area, Wolves were able to recover and Hwang turned Dan Burn inside-out and fired home.
It was a tough watch for Newcastle fans as the side looked extremely leggy. The extra fixtures already seem to be taking their toll which is not helped by the long list of injuries the side are carrying which makes it almost impossible for Eddie Howe to make any meaningful changes.
One change that was staring Eddie Howe in the face today which he didn't make was hooking Kieran Trippier for Tino Livramento. After his absolutely brilliant performance against Crystal Palace, it's shocking to see how poor he's been in the last two games.
Our theory is that our side is actually made up of the aliens from the M. Night Shyamalan film, Signs and they seem to be deathly allergic to water because they go to bits in the rain, especially Trippier.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
12 | 16 | 31 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
12 | 5 | 23 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
4 |
Arsenal
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
5 |
Brighton
|
12 | 5 | 22 |
6 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
12 | 14 | 19 |
7 |
Nottingham Forest
|
12 | 2 | 19 |
8 |
Aston Villa
|
12 | 0 | 19 |
9 |
Fulham
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
10 |
Newcastle United
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
11 |
Brentford
|
12 | 0 | 17 |
12 |
Manchester United
|
12 | 0 | 16 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
12 | -1 | 15 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
12 | -4 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
12 | -7 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
12 | -8 | 10 |
17 |
Wolves
|
12 | -8 | 9 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
12 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Crystal Palace
|
12 | -7 | 8 |
20 |
Southampton
|
12 | -15 | 4 |