Wolves are at home for the second of three times this week as Gary O’Neil’s former club AFC Bournemouth arrive at Molineux, and there are plenty of pre-match talking points to discuss.
#1 Inside both camps
With the amount of injuries which have affected his side this season, together with three home games in the space of seven days, O’Neil rotated his team as much as he could against Arsenal on Saturday, giving perennial starters Mario Lemina and Pablo Sarabia a rest from the start, while Matheus Cunha was not in the squad having made his first start and scored twice versus Nottingham Forest the previous weekend, neither was Nelson Semedo. Rayan Ait-Nouri came off the bench late on against Arsenal and could start on Wednesday night, but the game is too soon for Pedro Neto and Craig Dawson. However, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde has returned to training and could feature in a squad for the first time since early March.
Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has a few injury worries ahead of Wednesday night’s clash, with the man who secured the three points for the Cherries at Molineux last season, Marcus Tavernier, still on the sidelines with a thigh injury, as is Luis Sinisterra. Ryan Fredericks is out for the season, while Chris Mepham and Romain Faivre are also unavailable for Wednesday. However, Tyler Adams could feature after continuing his rehabilitation from a lower back injury.
#2 Coming into it
O’Neil’s men are currently in their worst run of form this season, with the team picking up just two points from their last five in the Premier League. Draws away at Burnley and Nottingham Forest have been followed up by defeats at home to West Ham and Arsenal, but with players returning from injury, Wolves will be hoping to get back to winning ways on Wednesday evening before another home fixtures takes place on Saturday against Luton Town.
Wolves’ last three | L 0-2 Arsenal (H) – D 2-2 Nottingham Forest (A) – L 1-2 West Ham United (H)
The Cherries’ form has gone through fits and starts this season, picking up six wins from seven after none in their first nine, before another spell of five wins from four followed after a winless start to 2024, but Iraola’s side are now looking for a first win in three when they arrive at Molineux. Bournemouth suffered defeats against the Hatters and Aston Villa in recent away matches but took a point from Manchester United at the Vitality in between.
Bournemouth’s last three | L 1-3 Aston Villa (A) – D 2-2 Manchester United (H) – L 1-2 Luton Town (A)
#3 Since last time
Bournemouth 1 Wolves 2 | 21st October 2023
Wolves came from behind to give Gary O’Neil a winning return at Bournemouth, as Sasa Kalajdzic came off the bench to strike two minutes from time. The hosts led at the break after Dominic Solanke’s close-range finish, but after Matheus Cunha swept home two minutes after the restart, and Lewis Cook was dismissed, Wolves began to dominate and claimed all three points when Kalajdzic turned the ball in late on.
Wolves’ XI | Sa, Doherty, Kilman, Dawson, Toti, Ait-Nouri, Gomes, Traore, Neto, Hwang, Cunha.
From the Wolves team which started back in October, just Craig Dawson, Pedro Neto and Matheus Cunha didn’t feature against Arsenal at the weekend, with the trio on the sidelines with injury. Cunha could be back on Wednesday evening, with O’Neil yet to rule him out. Bournemouth’s side against Aston Villa on Sunday was similarly different to the one which last played at Molineux, with Max Aarons, Alex Scott and Philip Billing coming off the bench, while David Brooks is no longer at the club.
Bournemouth’s XI | Neto, Aarons, Kelly, Zabarnyi, Kerkez, Cook, Tavernier, Scott, Biling, Brooks, Solanke.
Matheus Cunha scored this beauty the last time we faced Bournemouth 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/7V9rluVqbC
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 23, 2024
#4 In the media
The Athletic’s Steve Madeley believes that Wolves will only know if O’Neil’s decision to rotate his squad this week will pay off once all three of their matches are complete.
“Whether or not his team selection for Saturday evening’s visit of Arsenal can be categorised as a gamble is open to debate, given the paucity of options available. But leaving two of his most experienced players on the substitutes’ bench for a game when he was already denied the presence of a host of stars through injury was certainly a brave decision. He will never know what a difference Mario Lemina and Pablo Sarabia would have made from the start in a Wolves side that at times appeared to be held together by a couple of sticking plasters and a few lengths of surgical tape. But having seen his side push the visitors all the way to the fifth minute of stoppage time, O’Neil can at least be sure that the decision will not be remembered as one that backfired. Just how much it will pay off will become clear over the course of two theoretically less daunting meetings with Bournemouth and Luton over the coming days.”
Tom Jordan, of Bournemouth podcast ‘Back of the Net’, feels the Cherries are finally seeing the full potential of forward Justin Kluivert as he thrives in Iraola’s current set-up.
“Justin has always been seen as a player with potential, and at the age of 24, Bournemouth may well be the club who get to benefit from him finally finding his ‘home’. Even at such a young age Justin has played in the top flight of Dutch, Italian, German, French, Spanish and now English football. Having had relatively short stints at various clubs around Europe it’s starting to feel as if Justin may well have found his ideal destination. In Andoni Iraola, Bournemouth play the offensive brand of football that Kluivert is really starting to relish. As a forward-thinking player who’s often been utilised from a wide area, he has cemented his place in Iraola’s number 10 role, often being the catalyst in transitions to trigger Bournemouth’s counter and high-pressing style. More is to come for sure, but I think plenty may start to target Kluivert when up against the Cherries. He is certainly one who has gone under the radar in Bournemouth’s impressive season.”
