#1 Lopetegui’s Premier League bow
If his time at the helm was to end today, Julen Lopetegui would leave as Wolves’ most successful ever manager and the only one to hold a 100 per cent win record thanks to Tuesday’s victory in the Carabao Cup last 16. However, the Spaniard is going to find the visit to Merseyside on Boxing Day an altogether different test to the one he found himself up against when Neil Harris’ Gillingham arrived at Molineux earlier in the week. Lopetegui will discover what the Premier League is all about when his players face the Toffees, and the game could not mean more to either side.
Currently sat at the foot of the top-flight table, Wolves know that even a win on Monday afternoon will not take them straight out of the bottom three, but it will close the gap to their opponents by just the one point, and if other results go their way, prove to be a big boost in their fight against the drop. Frank Lampard’s men have also not had the best of starts to their 2022/23 Premier League season and are currently out of the relegation zone by just a single point to 18th placed Nottingham Forest. A Boxing Day treat for Everton would also give temporary respite to their relegation worries, so this match truly is a proverbial six-pointer.
— Wolves (@Wolves) December 21, 2022
#2 Festive gold and black cheer
After Wolves’ 2021/22 Christmas plans were disrupted by a Covid-19 outbreak last season, the trip to Everton will be the gold and black’s first Premier League match on Boxing Day for four years. In previous seasons, Wolves have played their festive fixture on the 27th December, but we’re back on the 26th this term – for the first time since a 1-1 draw on the road at Craven Cottage in the club’s first season back in the Premier League back in 2018. There has been plenty for Wolves supporters to be cheerful about during their festive fixtures in recent years however, with the team unbeaten on either the 26th or 27th December stretching all the way back for the last 10 years!
Wolves last found themselves on the losing side on Boxing Day in 2012, when a Stale Solbakken managed side fell 3-0 at home to Peterborough United. Since then, Wolves have beaten all their festive fixtures which have been against a club outside of London, including Crewe Alexandra, Watford (twice, if you include last season’s rearranged game), Reading, Bristol City and Manchester City, while claiming draws against the three London clubs they have faced – Millwall, Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur. With a meeting against a club not from the capital on Monday, if the run continues, that means Lopetegui’s side will make it two wins from two under the new boss.
#3 A new era begins
With the World Cup in the rear view mirror, Wolves supporters finally got their first taste of life under their new leader on Tuesday night at Molineux, but they will be hoping for an even bigger impact still come from Lopetegui’s arrival. The head coach has been in the role since November, but with the enforced break due to the competition in Qatar, it’s been a long wait to see what a Lopetegui Wolves side would look like. He has already stated that he would like new signings into the club this January if he is to help turn the team’s fortunes around, but he can also have a positive change on the players who are already instilled into the gold and black first-team squad.
Many would argue that the players already at his disposal have great talent, but they have been underperforming during the opening four months of the season, but now with a manager who has been there and done it with some of the biggest clubs and national teams in the world in charge, it will not only convince players who might not have considered a switch to the Black Country in the past, but also give the existing squad a much-needed boost. But it will be a difficult start to life in the Premier League, as Wolves face an Everton side who are also hoping to give their second half of the season a kickstart.
Winning as a pack 🐺 pic.twitter.com/Yh6vc0WtcE
— Wolves (@Wolves) December 21, 2022
#4 Fixture list gets busier
The festive period is always a busy time in England, with the games coming thick and fast over the next few weeks, and the fixture list has got even busier for Wolves with the team’s progression into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals. The Gillingham win has set up a first League Cup last eight appearance in 27 years, and a rematch against Nottingham Forest, who Wolves happened to knock out of the competition in last season’s second round. Forest were also the team who the old gold overcame in the 1980 final to win the competition for a second time. That match will be played in between the FA Cup visit to Liverpool and the home Premier League match with West Ham United.
Wolves will also face Manchester United at home, as well as Aston Villa and Manchester City away in the next month, and with so many matches across three competitions, it will give Lopetegui a good opportunity to offer competitive minutes to many of the players in his squad. With just one game into the Lopetegui era, it is yet to be seen as to whether the Spaniard will be looking at rotating his crop from game to game, or if he is to stick with a consistent team but try to create an impact with players off the bench. That happened on Tuesday night, with the introduction of substitutes Raul Jimenez, Hee Chan Hwang, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Matheus Nunes. All four players had a big impact on securing the win after coming on, while also putting themselves in contention for a starting place on Monday.
