Players focused on Watford following break, says Neves

Following his contributions to Portugal’s victory in their UEFA Nations League clash with Poland, Ruben Neves’ mind is already fully focused on Wolves’ Premier League challenge.

The midfielder played a key role in his country’s 3-2 win last week, before settling for a place on the bench for Sunday’s friendly against Scotland.

Now back in training at Compton Park, Neves said the team are aiming to maintain their run of good form this Saturday when Watford will be the visitors to Molineux.

“It’s always good to play for my country,” he said. “We had very good games and won both, so it was a very good international break for me and for Portugal. It’s difficult for the club when you have to stop playing for two weeks, but it’s important for the players to play for our countries.

“We are focused on the Premier League now and players who were involved in the international break are now focused on the club and this is the most important thing.”

The 21-year-old has featured in every Premier League game for Wolves this season, with Nuno Espirito Santo setting a competition record for naming the same starting 11 for the first eight matches, and despite the head coach sticking with a consistent line-up, Neves believes any player in the squad could step in if called upon.

“We have a very good squad, and anyone can play. Everybody has to work a lot and then it is up to the manger to decide who plays.

“We always work the same way. We don’t think about our wins, about the games before, we always think about the next game and that’s what we’re doing.

“Now we are thinking about Watford. It’s another game for us and we go like usual in exactly the same way on which we’ve played the other games.”

Wolves head into Saturday’s clash on an undefeated run stretching back for the past six Premier League matches. But Neves is adamant the external praise heaped on Nuno’s side is not having an impact on the players.

“We don’t think about that. We don’t care what the people are saying,” Neves added. “We are focused on our work and we will continue playing as we have been playing until now. The most important thing is taking it game by game and seeing what will happen.

“Nuno likes us to be perfect. He’s always trying to improve for the next game. He wants us to improve our football and our shape every time. We don’t stop our work. Even if we win, even if we play very well, he wants us to improve and play even better.”

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