Why starting with four defeats is not a great omen for Wolvespublished at 12:14 BST
12:14 BST
Chris Collinson BBC Sport statistician
Wolves have lost their first four games of a league season for the first time in their history.
Of the previous 17 teams to lose their first four games of a Premier League season, eight have survived and nine have been relegated - essentially a coin flip.
However, such a bad start has been far more costly in recent years, with just one of the past five teams to do so staying up. That was Everton last season.
Newcastle 1-0 Wolves - the fans' verdictpublished at 08:45 BST
08:45 BST
Media caption,
We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Newcastle and Wolves.
Here are some of your comments:
Newcastle fans
George: After the first five minutes we dominated the game. Nick kept us in it and the midfield worked like Trojans. Tonali was relentless in his pursuit of the ball. Bring on Barca.
Cameron: Not much changed from our recent performances against Aston Villa and Liverpool - we just have a striker on the pitch who can finish instead of being sitting at home.
Andrew: Disjointed at times - Livramento superb and midfield team strong as ever. New striker looked lost despite scoring. Missed Gordon's pace.
Blue: A decent game made pretty tricky by Wolves. Tonali had yet another maestro performance and unlucky with his effort on goal. Woltemade impressed with his game and a debut goal to boot. Welcome to the Toon, Bonny Lad!
Wolves fans
Mike: Very poor performance. No cohesion between defence and attack. Too much defensive passing and, once again, sloppy passing. What would Wolves give for an attacking midfielder who is able to run at defences? The referee seemed to have a strange interpretation of tackling but some of the passes were asking for trouble. Unless things change, relegation is more probable than possible. Team weaker than last season.
Paul: A better performance, but the table doesn't lie. Selling your best players early and buying late in the window is a poor strategy. Vitor Pereira needs time to bed the new players up to speed.
Derk: Played well but, once again, can't score and can't defend. It's going to be a long season.
Tommy: Not sure how long VP can last. This is not totally on him but Jeff Shi has already hung him out to dry. Shi will sink us with his double talk. No decent players want to come to us - players have joined other clubs for less money. We are a mess top to bottom - no leaders, no British players and no clear gameplan.
Analysis: The wait for a point goes onpublished at 18:19 BST 13 September
18:19 BST 13 September
Ciaran Kelly Football reporter
Image source, Getty Images
Wolves made history against Newcastle - but not for the right reasons.
They have now lost each of their opening four games of a league campaign for the first time in their history. For context, this is the club's 127th season in the Football League or Premier League.
The visitors, in truth, never looked like getting back into the game after going behind.
Yet they had made a bright start.
Indeed the game had just got under way when Wolves went long and Rodrigo Gomes' effort was pushed behind by goalkeeper Nick Pope. From the resulting corner, Hwang's half-volley forced Pope into a fine stop.
It gave the travelling support up in the gods real encouragement. In fact, at one point, the away end felt assured enough to ask Geordies where was their "famous atmosphere".
Wolves certainly caused Newcastle problems with their pace in behind before the hosts took the lead.
Gomes fired wide from close range while Newcastle needed Fabian Schar to make a last-ditch tackle to prevent Tolu Arokodare from tapping home at the back post on his debut.
However, crucially, Wolves did not grab that opener.
How the return of talisman Jorgen Stand Larsen will be welcomed after the striker missed this game against his one-time suitors with an Achilles injury.
Newcastle 1-0 Wolves: What Pereira saidpublished at 18:07 BST 13 September
18:07 BST 13 September
Media caption,
Wolves boss Vitor Pereira spoke to BBC Sport after his side's defeat away to Newcastle: "Yes [frustrating].
"I'm very proud of my team. I think we competed since the first minute until the last minute in a difficult stadium.
"In the end I have a question. How is it possible for a team to press and be aggressive and win duels if we got yellow cards [for a lot of incidents]? It spoiled our game. It's not possible to be aggressive and compete at this level with yellow cards in the middle of the field."
On what they need to change: "Score goals when we have the chance. We had the chances. If we play without yellow cards and can be ourselves this is the spirit I want to see."
Did you know?
In what is their 127th season in English league football, Wolves have begun a campaign with four consecutive defeats for the very first time.
You can also listen to today's 5 Live Premier League commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Everton v Aston Villa" or "ask BBC Sounds to play Newcastle v Wolves", for instance.
Sutton's predictions: Newcastle v Wolvespublished at 11:03 BST 13 September
11:03 BST 13 September
Both of these teams are still without a win so far, although Wolves are the only Premier League club without a point on the board.
Newcastle have drawn twice and only lost very late on against Liverpool, so their form is hardly cause for concern.
They can move on now the Alexander Isak transfer saga is over, although this could be our first look at some of their new attack.
Yoane Wissa is unavailable so we will have to wait and see how fit and ready Nick Woltemade is, but I still think Newcastle will have too much for a Wolves team who are leaking too many goals.
At least Wolves do carry a threat going forward - though they will be missing Jorgen Strand Larsen, who Newcastle tried to sign last month.
Newcastle v Wolves: Key stats and talking pointspublished at 19:23 BST 12 September
19:23 BST 12 September
Tom McCoy BBC Sport journalist
Newcastle's club record signing Nick Woltemade is set to make his debut against a Wolves side still awaiting their first point. BBC Sport takes a look at some of the key themes before Saturday's match.
Newcastle spent approximately £240m this summer, the fourth highest total in the top flight. Their net spend was a more modest £90m, thanks largely to the acrimonious departure of Alexander Isak for a British record £125m, but there are still plenty of reasons for optimism on Tyneside.
Club record signing Nick Woltemade could make his bow at the weekend, as might fellow new arrival Yoane Wissa, while Barcelona will visit St James' Park on Thursday in an eagerly anticipated Champions League game.
Woltemade has started four times already for club and country this season but Magpies boss Eddie Howe may be tempted to ease the 22-year-old into action as he adjusts to a new league and the pressure from his £65m price tag.
It is only 14 months since the striker joined Stuttgart from Werder Bremen on a free but he has enjoyed a rapid rise since, netting 17 league and cup goals during a breakout season, winning the German Cup and finishing as top scorer at this summer's European Under-21 Championship.
The 6ft 6in player is an aerial threat but by no means fits the profile of a classic target man. Instead he is a technically strong footballer who looks to link play and run with the ball, finishing sixth among Bundesliga strikers for dribbles attempted last season.
Last term, he also ranked fourth in the top European leagues for most touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes, and the company he keeps in that metric is telling. The other leading players are either wingers or attacking midfielders - like Jamal Musiala and Bukayo Saka - or forwards, such as Mohamed Salah and Kylian Mbappe, who look to get on the ball and make things happen rather than simply lurking as penalty-box predators.
Why Newcastle wanted Strand Larsen
Wolves are the Premier League's only pointless side, and will also be without key centre-forward Jorgen Strand Larsen, who sat out their defeat by Everton with an Achilles issue amid interest from Newcastle.
Wolves boss Vitor Pereira said on Friday that Strand Larsen's "[recent] injury was a bit more serious" and he is "not in a condition for the game".
The Molineux club rejected £50m and £55m bids from the Magpies and will now offer the Norwegian an improved contract to reflect his importance to the club, following 14 Premier League goals in his debut campaign.
His contribution was at times overshadowed by eye-catching displays from the now-departed Matheus Cunha, who netted 15 times, including five strikes from outside the penalty area. But when Cunha missed four games through suspension in March and April it was Strand Larsen who stepped up, scoring in crucial wins over Southampton,West Ham and Ipswich to effectively guarantee safety for Wolves.
Where Strand Larsen has excelled is by making the most of his chances. His shot conversion figure last term - the percentage of efforts resulting in a goal – was 25.9%, which was the second highest recorded by any player with at least 20 attempts. He also directed 69.4% of his shots on target, the leading percentage among forwards who start regularly, and overperformed his expected goals total by 3.74.
Pereira on Strand Larsen, 'time' and Newcastlepublished at 13:56 BST 12 September
13:56 BST 12 September
Alex Fletcher BBC Sport journalist
Wolves boss Vitor Pereira has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Newcastle United at St James' Park (kick-off 15:00 BST).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
Jorgen Strand Larsen is "not in a condition for the game" and will not feature.
Pereira confirmed: "His [recent] injury was a bit more serious and he's trying to come back. We want him back as soon as possible, but he's not training yet."
He added: "The club and the player are talking about renewing his contract and I think he deserves it."
On how quickly things will improve: "I don't know the time [that I will need], but I need time. Now we have everyone with us I need to build the team tactically and mentally. The club did the best they could in the market and the new players arrived a little bit late."
Pereira said that facing Newcastle would be a "big challenge in normal circumstances" and that with tired players from international duty "it is difficult to prepare for a match like this".
He added: "We need to adapt. We will do our best and we will compete for the three points."
You can also listen to 5 Live Premier League commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Newcastle v Wolves" or "ask BBC Sounds to play the Wolves game".
After a bow-tied David Coleman asks Stan Cullis what he's learned from watching Brazil, and Kenneth Wolstenholme experiences Wolves' fitness regime ("What's the point of this weight-training?"), the final proof that Wolves are the country's most forward-thinking football club is offered by the chairman Jim Baker.
He proudly shows off plans for a revamped stadium, expanding capacity to 75,000. "We aim to attract families by making them more comfortable and giving them better protection from the weather."
Alas, it never happened, and decades later it seems that the most recent new vision for Molineux will also remain only an artist's impression.
In 2019, at a time of surging confidence, the pictures were offered as a long-term view of what Fosun thought the stadium could look like. Those ideas have been gradually scaled back ever since, with the club indicating that squad-building came before stand-building. The newest side of Molineux is the Stan Cullis Stand, opened in 2012. Two stands remain from the rebuild overseen by Sir Jack Hayward in the early 1990s, while the Steve Bull Stand is now over 45 years old, and showing its age.
"We have 32,000 seats at the moment, and I think it's good enough," he said.
"Maybe 35 or 40 [thousand] is the max for the city, but it's not very urgent. I think the urgent change is we should have more hospitality areas, to serve the clients from business, if they want to have a better environment to have a conference or eat there. We should do more on this."
Shi explained that the tired Steve Bull Stand is the likely focus of any such work.
"The next plan is to try to change a bit there, and build more areas for hospitality, for more business clients to come to enjoy there. Similar to what Fulham did with their new stand. But they are more high-end, for the super-rich clients to come. But we are more for maybe not super-rich, but some clients who want to have a better environment.
"The goal is not to rebuild the stand or the stadium," Shi concludes.
"It's more about to tweak, to change, to optimise it."
Some fans have expressed their annoyance at the tatty appearance of parts of Molineux. But with the pressure to prioritise spending on the team – and many thought they didn't do enough of that this summer either – no wholesale redevelopment seems likely in the foreseeable future.
'Tchatchoua's injection of pace is more than a statistic - it is a game-changer'published at 12:23 BST 9 September
12:23 BST 9 September
Dazzling Dave Fan writer
Image source, Getty Images
Wolves may not have many obvious advantages at St James' Park this weekend, but Jackson Tchatchoua's pace is one that could alter the tone of this match.
Wolves have stumbled out of the blocks, but Tchatchoua offers something that can lift the whole side: raw, relentless speed. Already clocked at 37.3 km/h this season, he is officially the fastest player in the 2025-26 Premier League, and the third-fastest ever recorded. That matters. It stretches games, unsettles defenders, and turns average passes into chances.
The £10m signing already has an assist for the club, and his direct running on the right has given Wolves a new outlet. In a side searching for their first points, that injection of pace is more than a statistic - it is a game-changer.
Of course, speed alone does not win games and we have to turn those bursts into goals. Early, low crosses. Cutbacks from the byeline. Balls flashed across the six-yard box. That is where the conversation moves from promise to points.
Fitness in the number nine role is really important. Ideally, Wolves need Jorgen Strand Larsen fit and active in the box, attacking those deliveries. His presence gives Tchatchoua a clear target.
We are yet to see our new striker Tolu Arokodare in action. He is not match fit and has only managed 30 minutes so far this season, so expectations must be managed. But this adds another layer to how Tchatchoua's service could be used. For now, the priority is getting a consistent finisher on the end of those balls.
This does not need to be complicated. Give Tchatchoua the lane, encourage him to be brave, and make sure there is a runner between the posts when the cross comes in.
Wolves have started slowly, but pace creates possibility. Use Tchatchoua as the outlet, commit to quick transitions, and the season can kick into gear.
In Tchatchoua, we have a spark with jet fuel. Harness it properly and the tone can shift quickly from concern to confidence.
Gossip: Wolves confident of tying down Strand Larsenpublished at 07:42 BST 9 September
07:42 BST 9 September
Wolves expect no issues negotiating a new contract with Jorgen Strand Larsen but they will include a minimum release clause for the forward, after rejecting two offers of more than £50m from Newcastle United in the summer. (Telegraph - subscription required), external
Gossip: Wolves may reignite interest in Lazio's Mandaspublished at 07:12 BST 8 September
07:12 BST 8 September
Lazio goalkeeper Christos Mandas will consider his future in January after losing his place in the starting line-up, with Wolves potentially reviving their interest having made a £17.3m bid for the 23-year-old Greece international during the summer. (Corriere dello Sport), external
Listen to highlights of fans' forumpublished at 17:58 BST 5 September
17:58 BST 5 September
BBC Radio WM brings you highlights of a special Wolves' football forum hosted by Daz Hale, Mike Taylor and David Kelly and recorded at The Cleveland Arms.
Kalajdzic joins LASK on loanpublished at 14:53 BST 5 September
14:53 BST 5 September
Image source, Getty Images
Wolves striker Sasa Kalajdzic has returned to his native Austria to join LASK on a season-long loan.
Kalajdzic moved to Molineux from Stuttgart for £15m in 2022, but has suffered two serious knee injuries, leading to lengthy spells on the sideline and significantly limiting his playing time.
In total, the 28-year-old has made 16 appearances for the Old Gold, scoring three goals.
He was loaned to Eintracht Frankfurt last season but returned to Wolves after suffering his third ACL injury in the space of five years.
Kalajdzic has featured in the Premier League and Carabao Cup for Vitor Pereira's side this season.
The Austrian transfer window shuts on Friday evening.
Wolves need stability - executive chairman Shipublished at 12:53 BST 5 September
12:53 BST 5 September
Nick Mashiter Football reporter
Image source, Getty Images
Wolves executive chairman Jeff Shi believes head coach Vitor Pereira will find the winning formula again after three straight defeats left them bottom of the early Premier League table.
A wretched start to last season - Wolves failed to win any of their opening 10 games - ultimately cost Gary O'Neil his job.
Pereira replaced him in December and took Wolves away from danger, ultimately finishing 16th and 17 points above the bottom three.
Wolves then sold star men Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri to Manchester United and Manchester City respectively in the summer, but kept Jorgen Strand Larsen after rejecting bids from Newcastle.
Shi has promised Pereira will be given time to arrest the slide, with Wolves travelling to Arsenal after the international break.
"Wolves need stability now - we need a coach to stay here and help us for a long time," he said. "Every coach needs time and the jigsaw to be made. We should give the coach enough time and the players he needs to prepare for the season.
"I feel the more important thing to define this season is the squad and the coach, the chemistry and the unity. If you have that foundation, you will have a strong season. If you don't, maybe you have a doubt.
"Before Vitor came the team chemistry had some problems. This year that issue is gone. We have a strong team spirit and a very committed team structure."
Why Wolves were 'not'devastated' to miss out on 2008 play-offspublished at 12:08 BST 5 September
12:08 BST 5 September
Image source, Getty Images
Former Wolves midfielder Dave Edwards says he and his team-mates were not "devastated" to miss out on the Championship play-offs in 2008 because they knew good times were around the corner.
Having joined the club in January from Luton Town, Edwards was part of Mick McCarthy's side that finished outside the play-offs on goal difference.
However, the following season, they secured promotion by winning the Championship outright.
"What Mick [McCarthy] did best was let everyone know we were building," Edwards told BBC Radio WM. "He came in really tough circumstances the year before I joined and there was a clear direction he needed to go in.
"He needed to save the club money so he was really invested in younger players from lower leagues who he thought had the ability to play at a higher level.
"We sensed that one more summer of recruitment where we would lose a couple of players and bring a few more in, would make us be in a really good spot.
"None of the players at that point, barring Jody Craddock, had played in the Premier League. So it wasn't like we had that experience and we were devastated because we knew how much better the Premier League was.
"The Championship still felt amazing to us. The summer came, a few new faces were added in and we just knew from there we had a right good chance."
Who will be Wolves' best signing this summer? published at 16:20 BST 4 September
16:20 BST 4 September
Image source, Getty Images
The dust has just about settled on a busy transfer window for Wolves.
In total, the Midlands club brought in seven players for a total of about £102.1m based on reported initial fees.
Those incomings were:
Tolu Arokodare - Genk
Jorgen Strand Larsen - Celta Vigo
Fer Lopez - Celta Vigo
Jhon Arias - Fluminense
Jackson Tchatchoua - Hellas Verona
David Moller Wolfe - AZ Alkmaar
Ladislav Krejci - Girona (loan)
*All permanent unless stated.
Heading the other way, Wolves had 11 outgoings. This included the likes of Matheus Cunha to Manchester United, Rayan Ait-Nouri to Manchester City and Fabio Silva to Borussia Dortmund.
Of all the summer arrivals to Molineux, who do you think will have the biggest impact?
