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Newcastle United continued their battle for survival this evening as they faced Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Molineux Stadium.
Coming on the back of a demoralising 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, the Magpies needed a victory to continue their good form while Wolves tried to make it four wins in a row.
Newcastle chose not to include either of their new signings - Antonio Barreca or Miguel Almirón in their starting line-up.
Almirón did, however, make it to the bench and was eventually brought on. Both teams lined up in 5-3-2 formations although Newcastle often tended to stay on the pitch in a 5-4-1 formation with Rondon being the lone man up front.
The Line-Ups:
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Rui Patricio (GK), Ryan Bennett, Conor Coady (C), Wilfried Boly, Matt Doherty, Leander Dendoncker, Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Jonny Otto, Raul Jimenez, Diogo Jota
Newcastle United: Martin Dubravka (GK), Florian Lejeune, Jamaal Lascelles (C), Fabian Schär, DeAndre Yedlin, Isaac Hayden, Sean Longstaff, Christian Atsu, Matt Ritchie, Ayoze Perez, Salomon Rondon.
The game was scoreless in the first half before midfielder Isaac Hayden put the visitors ahead in the 56th minute after being played in by Fabian Schär.
Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio had to take the blame for that goal as he failed to protect his near post for that goal.
The game looked set to finish as an important win for Newcastle but a last minute error from Slovakian goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka allowed Wilfried Boly to nod home the equaliser and salvage a point for Wolves.
The result sees Newcastle in 16th place on the Premier League table, just one point clear of the relegation zone.
Wolves, on the other hand, remain in seventh place but Watford's 1-0 win over Everton this weekend combined with today's result saw The Hornets close the gap between the two sides to two points.
We take a look at the five main talking points from this game from Newcastle's perspective as we assess their performance.
#5 Miguel
Almirón's debut
Paraguayan international midfielder Miguel Almirón was signed from MLS Cup Champions Atlanta United for a record fee of £20 million. It was thus a big surprise that manager Rafa Benitez chose to keep him on the bench for this game instead of playing him in the starting eleven.
Fans had to wait till the 73rd minute to see their new signing come onto the field - replacing Ghanian Christian Atsu.
He took the position in the left of the attacking midfield duo and would form the widest person on that flank in a defensive situation.
His constant, lively movement, as well as his composure on the ball, were immediately noticeable.
His physicality, however, is far from Premier League standards and that was shown as he was given a "Welcome To England" moment by Portuguese veteran Joao Moutinho.
His ability to keep the ball under pressure as well as cause problems with his movement looking to win the second ball played off by Salomón Rondón were evident.
He had two brilliant chances to influence a possible second goal. The first was him finding himself inside the six-yard box after some good work but a heavy first touch allowed Ryan Bennett to clear lines.
The second was a brilliant cutback from the left flank which Ayoze Perez couldn't put into the back of the net.
In a twenty minute cameo, Almirón showed Newcastle supporters a glimpse of what to expect from him in the future.
He is no doubt going to be a crucial part of the starting line-up with creativity, intent, effort and intelligence being the focal points of his overall game - all attributes which Newcastle currently lack.
#4 Individual errors cost Newcastle dearly
For the second week in a row, Martin Dúbravka found himself in the news for the wrong reasons.
After gifting Son Heung-Min the only goal in a 1-0 loss to Tottenham at Wembley the last time out, the Slovakian goalkeeper seemed to have redeemed himself with a string of good saves to keep Wolves at bay.
His most notable save came in the first half when he reacted brilliantly to a shot from Raúl Jiménez which took a deflection on the way and got down low quickly to keep it. He also followed it up with brilliant saves in the second half. However, it all came undone in the last minute.
While going up to get a deep cross in injury time of the second half, Dúbravka thought he would be able to catch it and elected to do so in a crowded area that included a few other Wolves and Newcastle players.
When he ended up misjudging the ball's height and flapping at it haplessly, Boly was the one right behind him to nod it home.
A lot of how Rafa Benitez plays depends on the game from Newcastle being error-free. As a team, they played brilliantly till the last play but it is individual errors like this that make the difference for relegation-threatened sides like Newcastle between staying in England's top flight next season and playing Championship football next year.
#3 Top notch performance from Jamaal Lascelles
By far the most impressive central defender out of the back three for Newcastle United was their captain Jamaal Lascelles. Indeed, barring a few performances this season, he has been the most consistent player in the heart of the Magpies' defence.
Time and again, he rescued Newcastle when they were caught on the counter-attack by Wolves. While his partners-in-crime, Fabian Schär and Florian Lejeune were also decent, it was the captain who excelled.
His most notable moment was when he brilliantly avoided getting turned inside out by Mexican forward Raúl Jiménez and then took the ball from his feet cleanly and played it out.
His presence defensively and his solidity at the back also allowed his fellow center-backs to step forward into midfield - especially towards the end of the first half and during the start of the second when Newcastle enjoyed a sustained spell of possession.
It was indeed, one such occasion that brought the opening goal of the game as Schär stepped forward to supply the pass that led to Isaac Hayden opening the scoring - albeit handily helped by Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio's mistake.
He also covered well for Lejeune who was by far the most average of the three today and was crucial in Wolverhampton not getting a reward for their early dominance when a misplaced pass by Lejeune nearly led to the Wolves sniffing at goal.
Newcastle will need Lascelles at his best through the final set of games heading towards the end of the season if they are to stay up and live to fight another season.
#2 Hardworking Midfield
The foursome of Ayoze Perez, Sean Longstaff, Isaac Hayden, and Christian Atsu is not the most creative midfield in the Premier League but they are one of the most hardworking defensively.
Sitting in front of the back five, they were crucial in preventing Wolves from gaining a firm foothold on the game after they had weathered the initial period of the home team's dominance.
Longstaff was the most impressive out of all of them. For all the talk about how No.6's in the league should play, Longstaff was Newcastle's Javier Mascherano, sitting in front of the three center-backs and not allowing the Wolves midfield to pass through easily.
His positioning was immaculate and he played co-ordinated football along with Hayden to keep the Portuguese duo of Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho quiet almost through the entire game.
Perez and Atsu were also good - even if they were not exceptional - in the way they transitioned from attack to defence and took up their positions diligently every time Newcastle lost the ball.
While Atsu did leave a little bit to be desired sometimes, Perez being in the right place at the right time proved to be more than helpful in certain situations, especially when DeAndre Yedlin was out of position and Wolves tried to exploit that space on the right-hand side.
However, they did sometimes show a lack of aggression defensively and were caught in two minds sometimes when the Jonny Otto and Matt Doherty went forward as they didn't know whether to track the wingbacks or stay forward for a potential counter.
But no matter the minor mistakes, the effort level never dropped below a hundred percent.
#1 The chemistry between Miguel Almirón, Ayoze Perez and Salomón Rondón
Fans only got a glimpse of it in this game but going forward, how their newest signing operates with their best striker is going to determine how Newcastle do in the Premier League over the coming months.
In a team bereft of creativity, Almirón offers them an unpredictable attacking outlet who can both score and find the killer pass. And in Rondón, they have a big, physical target man who can finish with aplomb.
In this team, it's going to be imperative that they make this combination work alongside their hardworking Spaniard, Ayoze Perez.
Almirón and Perez have to tailor their movements around Rondón and find those pockets of space that the Venezuelan can then play a searching pass into.
And with the pace that the Paraguayan midfielder offers, it can become a problem for defenders trying to keep up with him, as we saw in this game with Wolves.
And with the two of them occupying a lot of the attention, it opens up possibilities in front of goal for Perez - something that nearly bore fruit when Perez skied a lovely cutback from Almirón in front of goal that would've put the game to bed.
Having Almirón in the lineup also offers the option of playing the ball up to Rondón along the ground instead of having to lob it up in the air where more often than not, the opposite center-back gets the better of him.
It's easier to facilitate hold-up play, as Rondón is capable of doing when the ball is played to your feet.
If not anything else, Rondón might even be able to win a foul or play it back safe and thus help keep possession of the ball - something else that Newcastle hasn't been great at this year.
Given that there are now only twelve more games left for the end of this season, it is of utmost importance that Newcastle figures out a way to make the trio work in tandem with each other and get them on the same wavelength if they want to stay in the Premier League next season.
