Wolves are looking to continue their winning streak at Molineux this weekend, with Vitor Pereira saying his team must prove their quality if they are to win the three points.
Following last weekend’s victory at Old Trafford, the Old Gold could make it six wins in a row on Saturday, and after his Wolves career began in the reverse fixture, Pereira has acknowledged how far his team have come in the last five months.
The head coach has also expressed his respect and admiration for the soon-departing Foxes striker Jamie Vardy, and believes his players will need to be at their best if they are to get the better of the Leicester captain.
On Sa’s recovery and injury news
“He’s okay. Sa is working with the team and is in a condition to help. Bellegarde and Channy [Hwang] worked yesterday with the team, and I believe they will be available for the team.”
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 25, 2025
On facing Leicester this weekend
“I’m not a guy who looks for the records, but I’m just looking forward to the next game, and the game after. We must go there to compete for the three points. This is the most important for this game and the upcoming ones, because the previous games are in the past.”
“I need to see ambition in my team. We are talking about relegation, but this is not our target; we aim to reach the best possible position on the table.
"Our season is not over yet. When I first came here, the situation was difficult, but I knew that we had and still have the quality needed to reach the best possible position in the league."
On Vardy’s Foxes career
“He’s one of the best strikers in the Premier League, he’s had a fantastic career, and he’s someone that I respect a lot. He’s a very intelligent player who knows how to play within the limits of offside. At times, he’s offside, but he comes inside just in time.
"He knows how to attack the spaces, and he’s very dangerous when he does. He’s a special player when you need him to score goals because he’s a good finisher."
On his first Wolves game against Leicester
“It was a fantastic win, and more importantly, because it was my first game in the Premier League, I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. It was fantastic because we had two training sessions before, and the message was clear, and all the players were outstanding.
“[This weekend] they will come to prove themselves, to prove they have quality, and we must prove our quality because we want the win, but we must work to deserve the three points.”
On improving performance levels
"I like to win games. We deserved the result [against Manchester United] if you speak about the spirit we showed in the game, but technically and tactically, it was not our best game, especially with the ball. Without the ball, we did well, but I had a conversation with the players.
"They know what I want, and we can do much better because we played better football against Tottenham in the game before, which means we can do it again. I hope to see my team winning tomorrow and winning with merit.
"The team is now more consistent. It is solid in defending, defending set pieces, and attacking. We can compete with any team but must face the games with the right mentality.”
Vitor with the next generation 🐺 pic.twitter.com/ursxjiUyS1
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 24, 2025
On not focusing on the summer
“We focus on finishing this season in the best position, and we need to focus on the next game. Of course, we look for the future, not the long term, but the next window. I don’t want a lot of players, but we need to understand the players that will leave and the players that we need. But it’s not the right moment to discuss. I prefer to finish the season to have a clear perspective about the future and to have a conversation with the club.
"They start to speak about players, some of them I don’t know and haven’t heard of in my life, but this is football. In this moment, I want to win the next game, and I must put all my knowledge into this game against Leicester because it will be a challenging game.”
On Mateus Mane and exciting Academy players
“He is a talent. He has a lot of quality and will be part of the future of this club; I want to give him some minutes. We will see if it’s possible, because I haven’t yet found the right opportunity to give him the minutes he deserves. After all, he works a lot, and he is a player whose future I can project - not with a crystal ball because I don’t have one, but I believe he will be one of the figures in the future of the Premier League. He’s young, he’s very young, but he has the talent.
"Every week, we bring a few players from the academy to work with us, and at this moment, there are three or four players who can do the pre-season with us and maybe make part of the squad for next season. We have some good players, and we do good work in the academy. They come a lot of times with the first team, and they show that we can count on them because they have quality.
"We are trying to select them for the position that we need to think about next season. I like to work with them because I spent many years working with the youth teams in FC Porto, and I want to teach. Even the first team, even players who are 35, we can teach them something, and we can all learn every time."
By Rony Omar
