Six of Wolves’ last eight away games have taken place in London and on Saturday they make it number seven with a trip to Tottenham Hotspur, and here’s everything you need to know pre-match.
#1 Inside both camps
Gary O’Neil goes into a Wolves matchday without the services of Matheus Cunha for the first time at Wolves head coach. The attacker has been ruled out for the foreseeable future with a hamstring injury. Fortunately, the head coach does have his other top scorer Hee Chan Hwang back available to start, after his return from Asian Cup action was delayed by a minor calf issue. He's the likely option to replace Cunha, while Jean-Ricner Bellegarde also comes into contention. Other than Cunha, O’Neil has a fully-fit squad to select from. Boubacar Traore returned as an unused substitute against Brentford and could feature for the first time since AFCON this weekend. Another attacking option is youngster Nathan Fraser, who’d be making his full Premier League debut if selected from the off.
As for Ange Postecoglou, he’ll have to do without his first choice full-backs in Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie. Porro picked up a strain in training during the week, which will rule him out for a couple of weeks. Udogie has a knock, which keeps him out of Saturday's game, but not long-term. Their absence could open the door to Emerson Royal and Ben Davies, who both featured at Molineux back in November. Goalkeeper Fraser Forster is out for more than a month with a fractured foot. Manor Solomon and Giovani Lo Celso remain out.
Grafting 🇰🇷 pic.twitter.com/vQ74XMNbi3
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 15, 2024
#2 Coming into it
Wolves head into the contest with a mixed run of form behind them. The Old Gold have alternated victories and defeats in recent weeks and will hope that trends continues this weekend, as they look to rid the memory of defeat to Brentford last time out. For much of the season, Wolves have been stronger at Molineux than on the road, but that’s changed recently. A derby day victory at West Bromwich Albion was followed up with a stunning 4-2 win at Chelsea. The Bees defeat followed up the late painful loss to Manchester United.
Wolves’ last three | L 2-0 Brentford (H) – W 4-2 Chelsea (A) – L 3-4 Manchester United (H)
Brennan Johnson scored in the sixth minute of injury time to earn Tottenham Hotspur a dramatic victory over Brighton & Hove Albion last time out. They’re unbeaten in five in the Premier League, having also beaten Brentford and Bournemouth on home soil, and drawn away at Manchester United and Everton. Ange Postecoglou’s side are currently in fourth spot, the position them, Aston Villa and Man United are all striving for, and they have a one-point lead on Villa and six on United going into the weekend’s action.
Tottenham’s last three | W 2-1 Brighton (H) – D 2-2 Everton (A) – W 3-2 Brentford (H)
#3 Since last time
Wolves 2 Tottenham 1 | 11th November 2023
The first fixture at Molineux provided one of the games of the season so far from a Wolves perspective, as the Old Gold scored twice in second half stoppage time to complete a dramatic comeback victory. Trailing to an early Johnson strike, Wolves were the better side, but looked set to be frustrated before Cunha clipped a ball over the top, which Pablo Sarabia controlled perfectly, before thumping a volley home. The Spaniard then turned provider when his through ball was latched on to by Mario Lemina and he guided home a last-gasp winner.
Wolves’ XI | Se, Semedo, Kilman, Dawson, Toti, Ait-Nouri, Lemina, Gomes, Bellegarde, Hwang, Cunha.
Of Wolves’ eleven that day, only the now injured Cunha certainly won’t feature at Spurs on Saturday. The goalkeeper, defence and midfield were the same last time out against Brentford. Sasa Kalajdzic came off the bench that day but has since left on loan. For Spurs, Eric Dier left in the January transfer window for Bayern Munich. Christian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie and James Maddison all missed the Molineux trip through injury or suspension, but featured against the Seagulls last time out.
Spurs XI | Vicario, Porro, Dier, Davies, Royal, Hojbjerg, Bissouma, Sarr, Johnson, Kulusevski, Son.
#4 In the media
Mike Taylor, BBC Radio WM reporter, said Wolves need to bounce back after dropping their standards against Brentford.
He said: “Having allowed Wolves a heady afternoon at Stamford Bridge, on Matheus Cunha's biggest day so far, the sporting gods were at their most cussed last weekend. Injuries removed first Hee Chan Hwang and then Cunha from the game against Brentford, drawing the teeth from the Wolves attack. Perhaps it demonstrated Cunha's importance to Wolves even more clearly than his hat-trick against Chelsea did, although there was more to the defeat than just that.
“Wolves have shown us their best side so regularly this season, especially since Christmas, that we can briefly forget just how much strife most people agreed they were in only six months ago. They have played to a higher level than most pundits suspected they could, more often than many fans imagined they would. In such a competitive league, though, only the elite sides can expect to win games when they don't find their highest gears.”
Pat Nevin, writing for the BBC Football Extra newsletter, was full of praise for both Tottenham and Brighton after last weekend’s entertaining encounter.
He said: “Both teams are positive and open risk takers who border on reckless every time they start a move. It often begins from deep within their own penalty boxes and even with everyone marked, they still courageously pass it out from there. The fans still enjoy watching the spectacle even if it is regularly through their fingers. The winning goal was worth the wait, and it was the perfect expression of this enthralling style of football.
“In the dying seconds of the 96th minute, Spurs did not lump it long into the box, not a chance. Instead, they had a flowing eight-pass move starting from their own penalty area and ending with Son Heung-min sliding the ball across for Brennan Johnson to score. It was a classic of its type, underlining that Ange Postecoglou's team will neither give up their Champions League chase, nor compromise on their methodology.”
