Gary O'Neil has acknowledged that he is excited to see how far his Wolverhampton Wanderers squad have progressed ahead of their meeting with Newcastle United.
When Wolves capitulated to Brighton & Hove Albion in his second game in charge on August 19, the club's fanbase were skeptical over the appointment.
Since then, though, Wolves have collected 11 points from seven matches, a victory over Manchester City and draw with Aston Villa being recorded during that period.
Yet another top-five contender travels to Molineux on Saturday as Newcastle attempt to bounce back from their Champions League setback against Borussia Dortmund in midweek.
For Wolves and O'Neil, they will be hoping to extend an undefeated streak that currently totals four matches, the West Midlands outfit defeating Bournemouth in their last fixture.
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With two of Wolves' three triumphs this season being against the struggling Cherries and, preceding that, Everton, the verdict is still out on O'Neil.
Although he insists that he will not adopt any unfamiliar tactics to try to match Newcastle, the 40-year-old says that he is relishing seeing how his players cope against one of the best attacking teams in the division.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference, O'Neil said: "It will be the same as most games really. We will try to be aggressive when it suits us and try to have good control on the ball when we have it. So nothing too different.
"Newcastle carry some real key threats. Their energy and mentality is tough to stop as seen in recent games.
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"It will be a good challenge for us, the boys are looking forward to it and I'm looking forward to it. It will be good to see how far we have come."
As it stands, six positions separate the two teams in the standings, yet Wolves can move to within two points of their sixth-placed opponents with a win.
However, Newcastle possess the best-attacking record in the division, scoring 24 goals in nine games, and they have netted 10 times in their last two away fixtures at Sheffield United and West Ham United.
Wolves have won just one of their last eight Premier League contests with Newcastle, with that being a 2-1 triumph at Molineux in October 2021.
Darren Plant
