Saturday will see Wolves step out at Molineux for the third time in seven days as former Old Gold defender and coach Rob Edwards brings his Luton Town side to the Black Country.
#1 Inside both camps
Although the injury issues which have hampered Wolves’ results during the last few months appeared to be improving, especially in the attacking areas, with Matheus Cunha and Hee Chan Hwang returning to the team in the last few games, Gary O’Neil is now short on defenders after Santi Bueno suffered a hamstring injury last time out against Bournemouth which saw him replaced at the break – leaving Wolves with just two fit centre-backs in a team which usually plays with three. Nelson Semedo covered at right centre-back in the second half and that could be the case again on Saturday if Bueno does not recover in time. Wolves' goalscorer at Kenilworth Road, Pedro Neto, remains on the sidelines, but Jean-Ricner Bellegarde could make his return.
At least four of Luton’s side – Tom Lockyer, Marvelous Nakamba, Jacob Brown and Amari’i Bell – will play no further part this season. Dan Potts is also currently out, while Mads Andersen is currently in a similar position to Potts with a calf injury expected to put him out for the next few weeks, but he could return before the end of the campaign. Elijah Adebayo and Chiedozie Ogbene both have hamstring injuries and are unlikely to feature at Molineux, Issa Kabore has a foot injury which needs to be assessed and Reece Burke came off at half-time last weekend with illness so might miss also out on Saturday.
#2 Coming into it
Wolves remain in their worst run of form since O’Neil came into the club just before the start of the season, as they search for a first Premier League win in seven Premier League outings, while having fallen to defeat in their last three at Molineux. The head coach called Wednesday’s performance against Bournemouth as his team’s worst of the season, and will be looking to bounce back on Saturday afternoon against the Hatters.
Wolves’ last three | L 0-1 Bournemouth (H) – L 0-2 Arsenal (H) – D 2-2 Nottingham Forest (A)
If it wasn’t for the three points Luton gained against Bournemouth earlier this month, Edwards’ side would be without a win since the end of January, having failed to win 12 of their last 13 matches – but they have scored in all but one of those matches. Their recent form has also been concerning with successive 5-1 defeats against Manchester City at the Etihad before repeating that scoreline at home to Brentford.
Luton’s last three | L 1-5 Brentford (H) – L 1-5 Manchester City (A) – W 2-1 Bournemouth (H)
#3 Since last time
Luton 1 Wolves 1 | 23rd September 2023
A harsh penalty given against Joao Gomes for a handball saw 10-man Wolves held to a point against Luton last time out, but could have had all three after Neto’s brilliant goal. The Old Gold played more than half of the match a man light after Bellegarde’s dismissal but took the lead after Neto’s fine solo goal in front of the away end. Carlton Morris equalised in the second half when he rolled home from the penalty spot to earn his team a draw.
Wolves’ XI | Sa, Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Ait-Nouri, Lemina, Gomes, Bellegarde, Neto, Hwang, Cunha.
From the Wolves team which started back in September, Wolves are currently only missing the injured pair of Craig Dawson – who is out for the season after groin surgery – and forward Neto, after Rayan Ait-Nouri, Hwang and Cunha returned from the treatment table recently, while Bellegarde could mark his return against the Hatters. Luton have been forced to make several changes to their team since the reverse fixture with many of the starters that day now out for the season, with Gabriel Osho, Teden Mengi, Ross Barkley, Tahith Chong and Jordan Clark all starting last time out in the heavy loss to the Bees.
Luton’s XI | Kaminski, Lockyer, Ogbene, Morris, Kabore, Nakamba, Burke, Brown, Lokonga, Bell, Doughty.
An incredible goal and even better celebrations.
— Wolves (@Wolves) September 23, 2023
👏 @pedrolneto7 pic.twitter.com/Uw8wcj5ydr
#4 In the media
The Express & Star’s Ollie Westbury believes Gary O’Neil and his Wolves players need to quickly brush off the disappointment of Wednesday night’s Bournemouth defeat ahead of Luton arriving at Molineux tomorrow.
“[Luton] manager Rob Edwards was seen enjoying a chat with Wolves’ sporting director Matt Hobbs on Wednesday night at Molineux as he watched Bournemouth get the better of O’Neil’s men. And he will be the man trying to outwit the Wolves boss as Luton aim to keep their hopes of Premier League survival alive. For the hosts, they will be looking for an immediate reaction to that defeat on Wednesday after a really poor performance in front of their home crowd. O’Neil says his players have plenty of ‘credit in the bank’ after what he describes as a successful season so far before warning that does not mean standards can drop. Wolves will want to make sure they cannot be accused of being ‘on the beach’ by supporters. Personal pride and finishing as high as they possibly can is the only thing they have left to play for this campaign. They need to make sure they finish the season on a high.”
Geoff Doyle, BBC Three Counties Radio sports editor, feels there is still ‘plenty of fight’ left in the Hatters as they enter the final few weeks of the season in a race to avoid the Premier League drop.
“Independent commission panels, tribunals, points deductions, appeals, points additions and now VAR bias accusations. What a crazy season this has been. None of it instigated by Luton but all of it affecting them. For Luton to stand a chance of getting out of the relegation zone, they will have to improve big time on that last performance against Brentford. To produce their poorest performance of the season couldn’t have come at a worse time. Afterwards Rob Edwards told me it was to do with lack of urgency and intensity. It's true. And it's clear they are massively missing the pace that the injured Chiedozie Ogbene offers them. Starting three players on their return from injury may have been a bit too much and led to a somewhat disjointed performance. But there were many other circumstances leading to this outcome. The players were hurting on the final whistle and many will write them off on the back of that result. But one thing we know about this group of players is that they won’t give up.”
