Fantasy forwards present and absent were the main talking point after Newcastle United’s win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
Nick Woltemade (£7.0m) marked his Magpies debut with a goal, while there were updates on the unavailable Jorgen Strand Larsen (£6.4m) and Yoane Wissa (£7.5m) after full-time on Tyneside.
The match at St James’ Park kicks off our Gameweek 4 Scout Notes.
WISSA INJURY UPDATE
Eddie Howe said after full-time that he had “no news” on Wissa, who was ruled out on Friday with a knee injury.
But the Evening Chronicle’s Lee Ryder had an important update on the DR Congo international in the aftermath of the game, claiming Wissa would be out for 4-5 weeks.
The same timeline was being widely touted by the national media on Saturday evening.
🚨Good news on Yoane Wissa NOT an ACL injury.
And not as bad as first feared, approx recovery time going to be 4/5 weeks.
More below. #NUFC
— Lee Ryder (@lee_ryder) September 13, 2025
The former Brentford striker could be on track for a Gameweek 8 return, then.
WOLTEMADE OFF AND RUNNING
That leaves Woltemade in pole position for the striker’s role up until the October international break.
How he copes with the unrelenting schedule (Thursday’s clash with Barcelona is followed by a trip to Bournemouth less than 72 hours later) and against tougher opposition remains to be seen. Wolves are, even if the Premier League table didn’t already suggest it, perhaps the division’s weakest team at present.
“He was certainly feeling it physically, I think. He said he’s never got cramp before and he had it after 60 minutes! There’s a physical adjustment, as we know, with this league, it’s relentless.” – Eddie Howe on Nick Woltemade
But it was a promising league bow all the same. For a player not meant to be a ‘proper’ out-and-out striker, his debut goal was one a classic number nine would have been proud of: a thumping close-range header from a Jacob Murphy (£6.3m) cross.
Nick Woltemade’s @NUFC debut ⚫️⚪️ pic.twitter.com/VOTFrkfGCh
— Premier League (@premierleague) September 13, 2025
“Great moment for Nick. I think I was very pleased with how he played today. You saw his qualities, his technical qualities that we’ve been discussing. His intelligence, but most importantly for a striker when the ball comes in the box, you need to be there. And he was today. It was a great finish. Really, really pleased for him personally because that just settles him down and relaxes him. Very humble guy, wants to do well. He’s delighted to be here. I think it’s a great start.” – Eddie Howe on Nick Woltemade
Woltemade had three efforts in all, two of them headers and all of them in the box. But, as many of the scouting reports had suggested, he’s not your archetypal goal-hanger. While 20 touches was the lowest of any Newcastle starter on Saturday, those touches were intelligent.
He could certainly be good for the Magpies’ wingers’ goal threat, with his link-up play. One lay-off nearly resulted in a Murphy goal, while another chipped through-ball set Harvey Barnes (£6.5m) away for a disallowed Murphy strike.
MURPHY PREFERRED TO ELANGA AGAIN
Murphy has been written off multiple times in his eight-year Newcastle career. The summer signing of Anthony Elanga (£7.0m) seemed to be another blow to his game-time.
But Murphy has now been preferred to Elanga twice in succession. He delivered an excellent performance on Saturday, linking well with Woltemade.
Murphy even topped the day’s non-penalty expected goal involvement (NPxGI) table, seeing a close-range effort of his own saved.
In truth, however, Newcastle wingers are a continuing FPL ‘avoid’ with the game-to-game minutes risk this autumn.
Saturday’s back four have remained unchanged all season (Howe is more reluctant to tinker with his defence) and they clocked up their third clean sheet in four games here.
Fabian Schar (£5.5m) delivered ‘DefCon’ returns for the second time in 2025/26 on Saturday, too.
Above: Newcastle have the best xGC record this season
But now’s not the time to buy Schar et al, with an in-form Bournemouth and Arsenal up next.
STRAND LARSEN “DAY BY DAY”
Wolves remain point-less and rooted to the bottom of the table. Second-bottom for xGC, they’re 20th for xG at the other end of the pitch.
They actually began brightly on Tyneside, with left wing-back Rodrigo Gomes (£4.5m) looking dangerous and going close on three occasions.
Hwang Hee-chan (£5.9m) also tested Nick Pope (£5.0m) in the first minute before very nearly teeing up debutant Tolo Arokadare (£5.5m), who played alongside the Korean up front in a 3-5-2.
But, from minute 38 to 88, not a sausage. The performance grew limp, with the attack regressing to their previous blunt worst.
“Score goals when we have the chance, because we have the chances, and if we start to score our goals, we have more chance to [win].” – Vitor Pereira on what Wolves need to improve on to end their losing run
The absence of Jorgen Strand Larsen (£6.4m) is, of course, mitigation.
There is a glimmer of hope – and it’s only a glimmer – that the big Norwegian might be fit for the Gameweek 5 visit of Leeds United, based on post-match reports.
VP: We spent the last two weeks working with 8 players
Tolu had one session, did well
Krejci did well, versatile
Strand Larsen availability – Day by day, its Achilles tendon, we cannot push – we need to be patient
Sa – Stomach problems, vomits#wwfc pic.twitter.com/SkmmH0vcBi
— Nathan Judah (@NathanJudah) September 13, 2025
Vitor Pereira handed a debut to Ladislav Krejcí (£4.5m), an FPL defender who here lined up in central midfield.
“We had one training with Tolu. He’s a different player, he’s physically strong, he gives us the possibility to play long ball and to hold this ball and to give time for us to appear. He did well, of course, he is not in the physical condition to do better.
“Krejci can play as a midfielder, can play as a central defender, with quality, with good decisions, because he has the skills and is good for us because he is a player that can do more than one position.” – Vitor Pereira
