Wolves turn their attention to the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening, as Burnley are the visitors to Molineux, and wolves.co.uk provides a thorough preview ahead of kick-off.
1 | Roll Call
Wednesday evening’s clash with Burnley will be the final game of Nelson Semedo’s suspension as the right-back serves the third match of his ban following his red card against Liverpool on the final day of last season, meaning Matt Doherty and summer signing Pedro Lima will battle it out to see who takes the place in defence. Having shipped eight goals in their opening two games, there are questions marks over whether Gary O’Neil will switch to a back five against Burnley, as well as how strong he will go in the cup. Players such as Craig Dawson, Tommy Doyle, Boubacar Traore, Pablo Sarabia and Chiquinho have not seen much football so far this season, and could come into the starting 11, while Dan Bentley was used by O’Neil in the competition last season, and the Englishman could replace Jose Sa between the sticks at Molineux – having kept his first Premier League clean sheet against the Clarets last December.
In past seasons, Burnley have made wholesale changes for a Carabao Cup second round tie, and had this game been played a fortnight ago, Scott Parker would’ve had a full squad to choose from. But since then, the manager has been hamstrung by a lack of options, after the final weeks of the transfer window have seen the squad torn apart, with players either heading out of the door or being touted for moves – with 14 members of his squad being unavailable to Parker for the loss against Sunderland on Saturday. Since the win over Luton Town on the opening day, Wilson Odobert has moved to Tottenham Hotspur, Sander Berge is now at Fulham, Dara O’Shea has joined Ipswich and Johann Berg Gudmundsson – who scored in the 5-1 win over Cardiff 11 days ago – has switched to Saudi side Al-Orobah, meaning Burnley might not make many changes for the visit to Molineux.
2 | The Stat Pack 2023/24 Carabao Cup
Goals
- Matt Doherty | 2
- Jacob Bruun Larsen | 1
Assists
- Pablo Sarabia | 3
- Anass Zaroury | 3
Biggest win
- Wolves 5-0 Blackpool | August 2023
- Salford City 0-4 Burnley | September 2023
Cards
- Boubacar Traore | 1 yellows, 0 reds
- Jay Rodriguez | 1 yellow, 0 reds
Clean sheets
- Dan Bentley | 1
- Arijanet Muric | 2
3 | Journey to Wednesday
It’s been a difficult start to the season for O’Neil’s side who faced Arsenal at the Emirates before hosting Chelsea at Molineux in their opening two games of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign. After showing promising signs in a 2-0 loss against the Gunners, Wolves showed defensive lapses as well as attacking threat with Matheus Cunha and Jorgen Strand Larsen both getting on the scoresheet during a first half thriller versus the Blues on Sunday, which saw the sides go into the break locked at 2-2. But a second half collapse, which saw Chelsea score four goals without reply, shows there is still plenty to work on for the squad, who will be hoping to bounce back on Wednesday evening.
Burnley didn’t take too long to get up to speed back in the Championship, with Parker’s men scoring nine times in their opening two matches of the season as they swept aside Luton Town and Cardiff City to earn six quick points. At Turf Moor 11 days ago, the Clarets batted the Bluebirds, thanks to an own goal from Ethan Horvath, before Luca Koleosho, Josh Brownhill, Zeki Amdouni and Gudmundsson put the Clarets top of the table. But with the final weeks of the transfer window seeing Burnley’s squad getting picked apart, Saturday saw the team crash back down to earth with a bump at Sunderland, with the Black Cats claiming a 1-0 win which was enough to see them move to the top spot in the Championship standings.
In cup action tomorrow night.
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 27, 2024
🆚🔜 pic.twitter.com/Rn9p9ba1qe
4 | Cup success against the Clarets at Molineux
Wolves’ most recent League Cup clash against Burnley at Molineux came during the Old Gold’s first ever season in the Premier League, 21 years ago. On that October evening under the lights, the third round tie went the way of the hosts as Kenny Miller struck just after half time, before Jody Craddock scored his first goal in a gold and black shirt late on with a diving header to put the result beyond doubt. Although Wolves were indebted to goalkeeper Michael Oakes who made two fine saves which enabled the team to extend their unbeaten run to six games.
Wolves | Oakes, Luzhny, Butler, Craddock, Naylor, Gudjonsson, Ince (Rae 46), Silas, Camara, Iversen (Clarke 81), Miller.
Burnley | Jensen, West (Roche 62), Gnohere, Branch, Camara, Chaplow (Farrelly 61), Grant, Little, Blake, Facey, Thomas-Moore.
