Newcastle V Wolverhampton at Sports Direct Arena : Match Preview

Williamson wary of Wolves threat Newcastle defender Mike Williamson will not allow himself to relax when Wolves arrive on Tyneside this weekend. The 28-year-old has found himself pitched into battle with some of the Barclays Premier League's most prolific frontmen since he returned from a prolonged injury lay-off on Boxing Day. Williamson and his defensive colleagues have had to deal with the likes of Craig Bellamy, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Clint Dempsey and Darren Bent, and in their last outing at Tottenham, a fortnight ago, found themselves on the wrong end of a mauling by Louis Saha and Emmanuel Adebayor. On Saturday afternoon, they will be pitched into battle with a Wolves strike-force which has been unable to fire the club out of relegation trouble. However, former Portsmouth centre-half Williamson knows just how dangerous it would be to underestimate the likes of Steven Fletcher, Kevin Doyle and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. "I pay no attention to the form guide or where they are in the league," he said. "There are world-class players in every team and you take your eye off the ball and you are going to be punished, it's as simple as that. "That's why for me, there are no foregone conclusions in this league. "You have to prepare and play as well as you can, and keep to the standards you have set in previous weeks." Newcastle have rarely allowed those standards to slip with spectacular defeats at Fulham and Spurs, in which they conceded five times on both occasions, representing painful blips in an otherwise creditable run of form. Manager Alan Pardew admitted in the wake of the 5-0 defeat at White Hart Lane a fortnight ago that he was in part responsible after fielding an attacking line-up, but, like his players, he will dust himself down and go again. Pardew said: "It's important as a player, if you make a mistake on the pitch, that you hold your hands up and you say, 'I got that wrong'. "If you are the manager and you put a team out that didn't function, then you also put your hand up, and I take some responsibility for that Spurs game, no problem." The return of Cheick Tiote from African Nations Cup duty with Ivory Coast and central midfield partner Yohan Cabaye from a three-match ban will certainly not harm Newcastle's cause as they attempt to maintain pace with fourth-placed Arsenal and Chelsea in fifth, both of whom head the Magpies by a single point. Wolves owner Steve Morgan has challenged caretaker boss Terry Connor to stake a claim for the job on a permanent basis after being appointed for the remainder of the season. Connor will be in charge for the final 13 matches - starting with the encounter at St James' Park - and given the task of keeping second from bottom Wolves in the Barclays Premier League. The midlands club have come in for criticism after failing to land an established manager as the sacked Mick McCarthy's replacement. But Morgan has faith in Connor, who has been at Molineux for 13 years, to plug the gap left by McCarthy after his contract was terminated 11 days ago. He said: "We believe we have made the right decision. Certainly the players' reaction has been incredibly good and we look forward to Terry taking the club from now until the end of the season. "We have seen a number of people, we have narrowed it down and it became clear with the way the players were responding to Terry that he was the right person to take us forward. "At the moment it's an interim appointment but he's got a chance to stake a claim. We've got 13 cup finals left. We're actually fed up of relegation battles but that's what we've got on our hands now." Midfielder Karl Henry is available after a three-match suspension for his red card against Aston Villa. Winger Michael Kightly is also back in contention having sufferd a back injury in the same game nearly four weeks ago. Top scorer Steven Fletcher was unable to train earlier this week because of a virus and migraine but is expected to be fit.

Newcastle V Wolverhampton - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game live.

Source: PA

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