Wolves are flying at Molineux and on Saturday they look to take that good form to Brighton & Hove Albion. In preparation, wolves.co.uk discusses the main Talking Points.
#1 Some turnaround between Brighton clashes
Saturday 5th November is a significant date in Wolves’ season. That day Brighton were victorious at Molineux, however it’s not the 3-2 loss which makes that date important, but what came that morning – the announcement of Julen Lopetegui as the club’s new head coach. The penultimate game before the World Cup break, the Spaniard watched from afar as 10-man Wolves battled hard against the Seagulls but fell to defeat seven minutes from time. A week later Lopetegui was unveiled to Molineux, ahead of another reverse to Arsenal, before the hard work began. It’s the table at the November break which speaks volumes for the job Lopetegui and his team have done.
Bottom with ten points from 15 games, Wolves were four points from safety with just two wins under their belt. But now, with five games remaining, the old gold have an eight-point buffer on the drop zone. Many of the line-up which faced Brighton back in November are likely to start again in Sussex. Nelson Semedo was dismissed that afternoon, so he’ll hope his turnaround story mirrors that of his team since that autumn afternoon.
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 27, 2023
#2 Taking form on the road
Molineux has been a happy place to play Premier League football for Wolves in 2023. Lopetegui’s side have won six of their eight home league games this calendar year, including three this month against Chelsea, Brentford and Crystal Palace, and now it’s time to take that form on the road this weekend. Wolves have only won twice away from home this season, with the most recent coming at Southampton in February. The five away games since have yielded two draws and three defeats and Lopetegui’s side have just three more opportunities to add to their tally on the road.
They go into the fixture with different emotions to their opponents. Brighton, on the back of 120 minutes of Emirates FA Cup action the previous Sunday, dominated the opening half at Nottingham Forest in midweek, but ran out of steam and were eventually beaten. That reverse was Brighton’s second in three away from home, but they are unbeaten in the same amount of fixtures on home soil. This time, they face a Wolves side buoyed by victory over Palace on Tuesday and looking to right the wrongs from a frustrating loss at the King Power last weekend.
#3 Fighting for different things
Brighton’s current position of chasing the European places is where Lopetegui is likely to hope his team are this time next year. The Seagulls hold the games in hand to mount a serious assault on the top seven during the run in and are doing so with the assistance of some expert pieces of business. Argentine Facundo Buonanotte scored on his full Premier League debut on Wednesday, while Julio Enciso started a Premier League fixture for the first time at Forest, having bagged at AFC Bournemouth and Chelsea away from home since his January arrival. The pair’s impact has been timely for Roberto De Zerbi, who has been without a number of key personnel in Evan Ferguson, Adam Lallana, Tariq Lamptey, Jakub Moder and Jeremy Sarmiento recently.
Meanwhile, the Wolves camp is proving Lopetegui has genuine options in multiple positions now. Hugo Bueno, without a start in seven matches, played 79 minutes against Palace, after Toti had previously held the fort. Ruben Neves returned with a mercurial display, completing 10 long passes, winning 10 duels and taking 78 touches – all a team high – after Joao Gomes had previously impressed. Elsewhere, Pablo Sarabia and Hee Chan Hwang have been competing for the attacking slot. Pedro Neto came off the bench to earn Wolves a crucial penalty against the Eagles, while Nathan Collins and Adama Traore came off the bench to good effect.
#4 Heading back to the AMEX
Wolves are unbeaten in three at the AMEX. In a fixture which usually takes place around Christmas time, Wolves have won one and drawn two. Last December Romain Saiss scored the only goal in a 1-0 win, which came after a 2-2 draw in 2019 and a 3-3 in 2021. However, Brighton have won back-to-back meetings between the two teams. A positive result would go a long way to pleased Lopetegui, Neves and Mario Lemina, who all spoke to the media after Tuesday’s win.
The head coach insisted the job is not done yet, and Wolves need to maintain standards, while Neves spoke of the unity in the camp and Lemina hailed another clean sheet, all of which are ingredients for a positive display on Saturday, should they be achieved. Those clean sheets Lemina spoke of have been hard to come back on the road – the old gold have enjoyed just one shut out away from Molineux this term, which came in the goalless draw at AFC Bournemouth back in August. For a team which so regularly keeps clean sheets on home soil, that will certainly be an area to improve for Lopetegui during the run in.
