Newcastle United fought back from a halftime deficit with two long-range strikes in the space of five minutes to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 at Molineux on Sunday and move into third place in the Premier League.

Fabian Schar’s speculative effort took a deflection to draw Newcastle level after Wolves captain Mario Lemina’s 36th-minute goal had put the hosts ahead at the break as they chased a first league success of the season.

But while there might have been an element of fortune about Schar’s 75th-minute goal, there was no luck involved as Harvey Barnes thrashed home a spectacular winner five minutes later.

Both efforts came from outside the penalty area and dramatically turned around the outcome after struggling Wolves had dominated most of the encounter.

Wolves remain in the bottom three with a single point from their opening four fixtures of the campaign.

Newcastle advanced to 10 points, behind second placed Arsenal on goal difference and two behind Manchester City.

The visitors began the encounter strongly and saw Anthony Gordon speed down the left flank before hitting the upright with an effort from a tight angle in the 24th minute.

But it proved the catalyst for Wolves to wrestle control of the game and go ahead after Jorgen Strand Larsen had broken on the counter-attack, hit a square ball across the Newcastle goalmouth that João Gomes generously dummied to allow Lemina a simple tap-in.