Football returns to Molineux on Saturday as Wolves host Brighton & Hove Albion in their second Premier League outing of the season, and wolves.co.uk provides the ideal pre-match preview.
#1 Inside both camps
Before the visit to Old Trafford on Monday, many in the Manchester United camp would have been guessing as to how Gary O’Neil would set out his side for Wolves’ opening Premier League fixture. But now that game is in the rear-view mirror, Brighton will have seen enough to make a decent prediction on how the Old Gold will look as they step out at Molineux for the first of 19 top-flight matches in the next 10 months. However, it wouldn’t be a surprise if O’Neil was to spring a few changes to Monday’s line-up. Wolves have a squad full of quality and depth, with – almost – two players fighting for every position and no injuries or suspension worries ahead of this weekend, so the big call for the head coach will be whether he sticks with those who started earlier this week or whether he rotates. Fabio Silva, Sasa Kalajdzic, Hee Chan Hwang and Hugo Bueno all came off the bench against United and produced impressive cameos, but it’s up to O’Neil to decide if they did enough to warrant a place from the start against the Seagulls.
Brighton arrive at Molineux off the back of a positive pre-season and opening fixture against Luton Town last weekend, so head coach Roberto De Zerbi will be confident in the players which helped his club pick up three points in their first game at the Amex. With their European journey yet to begin, De Zerbi is expected to go full strength at Molineux from the players he has available, with both Adam Webster and Adam Lallana are set to be assessed before Saturday but are doubtful for the game having missed last weekend, while Jakub Moder is the only confirmed omission from the squad. Evan Ferguson could be brought into the team for Danny Welbeck having scored from off the bench in their league opener.
#2 Coming into it
Wolves’ first loss of 2023/24 came in their Premier League opener against Manchester United on Monday evening having gone unbeaten throughout their pre-season friendlies. However, the performance displayed by O’Neil’s players at Old Trafford will give the team confidence ahead of another tough top flight fixture against Brighton.
Wolves’ last three | D 0-0 Luton Town (H) – W 3-1 Stade Rennais (H) – L 1-0 Manchester United (A)
Brighton had quite a mixed pre-season schedule, having tasted defeats against fellow Premier League outfits Chelsea and Newcastle United but a win over Brentford at the PL Summer Series in the USA. However, the Seagulls head to Molineux off the back of big 4-1 win against Luton Town to kick off their top flight campaign, which saw Solly March, Joao Pedro, Simon Adingra and Evan Ferguson open their accounts for the season.
Brighton’s last three | L 2-1 Newcastle United (N) – D 1-1 Rayo Vallecano (H) – W 4-1 Luton Town (H)
#3 Since last time
Brighton & Hove Albion 6 Wolves 0 | 29th April 2023
It was a disastrous afternoon on the south coast for Wolves the last time the two sides met as Brighton ran out 6-0 winners over Wolves, and since then, just two members of the Wolves squad are no longer at the club, with Ruben Neves and Diego Costa moving on. All but Hugo Bueno started against Manchester United on Monday, and the players will be hoping that the result on Saturday will be nothing like it was versus the Seagulls back in April.
Wolves’ XI | Sa, Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Bueno, J. Gomes, Lemina, Neves, Nunes, Neto, Costa.
There were five changes made to the Brighton team last weekend from the side which started against Wolves four months ago. New signings of James Milner, Mahmoud Dahoud and Joao Pedro coming in for Joel Veltman, Billy Gilmour and Deniz Undav – the latter has since joined VfB Stuttgart on loan, while Jan Paul van Hecke replaced the injured Adam Webster and Karou Mitoma, who was rested against Wolves last time out, was back in the side against Luton in pace of Julio Enciso.
Brighton’s XI | Steele, Veltman, Webster, Duck, Estupinan, Gross, Gilmour, March, Undav, Enciso, Welbeck.
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 18, 2023
#4 In the media
In his Express & Star column, former Wolves and Wales man Dave Edwards believes the Old Gold midfield will be key this season.
“I’m confident Wolves can follow up their excellent performance at Manchester United when they host Brighton on Saturday. There’s a lot to like about the starting XI but I think the ball-winning ability of Joao Gomes and Mario Lemina in the middle of the park, in particular, is going to be key this year. Both of them were sensational against United. Wolves have such a terrific midfield this season and that is going to be a key difference between struggling and being comfortable in mid-table. Then you have Matheus Nunes. He is the type of player who will try stuff anywhere and when it comes off, you saw him just gliding past United players and running 50, 60 yards. That is what excited me. Watching the likes of Matheus Cunha too, receiving the ball in those areas and having the awareness, the skill and the physicality to transition into attack. It was a really top, tactical performance and was played out so well from those players in the team.”
After Brighton lost their player of the season for a third summer in a row following the departure of Moises Caicedo to Chelsea last week, The Athletic’s Andy Naylor discusses how the Seagulls will replace the midfielder.
“Head coach Roberto De Zerbi has made signing a successor to Caicedo the top priority for the rest of the transfer window following the Ecuadorian midfielder’s British record move to Chelsea for £115million ($147m), with Lille’s 19-year-old Cameroonian Carlos Baleba a leading target. The upside is the extraordinary fee negotiated by chief executive Paul Barber — owner/chairman Tony Bloom’s right-hand man — within days of Liverpool agreeing what would also have been a British record bid of £111million, only for the player to opt for London over Merseyside. The downside is that Caicedo’s departure comes on top of the £55million move to Liverpool in June of Mac Allister, the other half of the double pivot in central midfield which was so effective last season.”
