Wolves advance in the FA Cup, while Newcastle United suffers a severe injury setback

Wolves advance in the FA Cup, while Newcastle United suffers a severe injury setback.

 

 

Wolves and Newcastle United played in the FA Cup this midweek.

 

United defeats Blackburn on Tuesday night thanks to penalties.

 

Despite playing on a Wednesday night and having a day less to prepare and recover than United, Wolves are also making it to the FA Cup final eight.

 

Lemina scored after just two minutes as Wolves held out against a Brighton team that dominated the majority of the game. Despite their struggles yesterday night—just 28% of the play and only two shots on goal—it was more than enough.

 

After the game, Gary O’Neill expressed his relief at making it to the FA Cup quarterfinals and acknowledged that it was difficult to juggle Premier League and Cup responsibilities with such a tiny group.

 

He did acknowledge that there had been a significant blow before this weekend’s matchup with Newcastle United.

 

Man U is the only team in the top half of the standings with less goals scored than Wolves, who have scored 40 in the Premier League this season. Nine goals apiece for Hwang Hee-chan and Matheus Cunha make up 19 of the meager total of 40 goals scored.

 

Due to an injury, Cunha was already ruled out of the Newcastle United match; now, top scorer Hwang Hee-chan has also been added.

 

In the 56th minute, Hwang Hee-chan went down with a hamstring injury and hobbled off the field. Lemina, the game-winner and goal scorer, also left at the same moment. He had been struggling since Pascal Gross had “tackled” the back of his Achilles shortly before halftime.

 

Following the game, Wolves manager Gary O’Neill expressed his amazement at Hwang Hee-chan’s chances of playing against Newcastle United. Although he claims the player’s injury appears to be minor, it is anticipated that the team’s leading scorer will miss at least one or two weeks of action.

 

Gary O’Neil would never have risked Hwang Hee-chan at Newcastle, not with this Wolves team scoring so few goals and their second-best scorer Cunha unlikely to return for some time. Besides, two weeks later, Wolves have an FA Cup home draw against Championship team Coventry.

 

Gary O’Neill provided additional injury and availability updates for the Newcastle match following the game. Although Joao Gomes had to be substituted late, the Wolves manager feels it was only cramps, and he also thinks Mario Lemina, who won the game last night, will be alright for Newcastle.

 

Midfielder Lemina has scored the most goals in the Premier League this season out of all those who appear to be ready to play against Newcastle on Saturday. Sarabia, who scored three Premier League goals last night, is the only other Wolves player now available who has scored more than two Premier League goals this year.

 

Wolves have only scored six goals in their last five Premier League encounters with the two teams, and Hwang Hee-chan has four of those goals, including the one that kept Wolves in the game this season, 2-2 at Molineux.

 

“Channy [Hwang Hee-chan] felt his hamstring a little bit, which is terrible for a squad this tiny, especially up front, but we had a difficult couple of days deciding who should rest and who should play. Channy’s appears to be a small one and doesn’t seem too significant.

 

However, if Hwang Hee-chan plays against Newcastle, I’ll be shocked.

 

“Aside from Channy, we made it through the game okay. Winning the game was the most important thing, but we’re a small group and we can’t afford to just keep injuring people.”