Wolves are back at Molineux on Wednesday night, for the primary game of the 2021/22 season under the lights, as Bruno Lage’s men combat Tottenham Hotspur within the Carabao Cup.
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1. Up for the cup
Having reached the Carabao Cup third round, Wolves have already gone one step further than they did last season, once they fell at the primary hurdle to Championship outfit Stoke City at Molineux. it had been quite comprehensive 4-0 victory within the previous round, as Bruno Lage’s men put second tier strugglers Nottingham Forest to the sword within the second-half, as Romain Saiss, Daniel Podence, Francisco Trincao and Morgan Gibbs-White got off the mark for the season.
Wolves’ four-goal win was the simplest result the club has had within the second round of the competition for a decade, when a Mick McCarthy-led gold and black outfit put four past Northampton Town in August 2011, as Sylvan Ebanks-Blake notched twice and Nenad Milijas and Sam Vokes added the others on the road. Wolves then went one further within the third round, almost exactly 10 years ago, as they returned to Molineux and beat Millwall 5-0, with Dave Edwards, Adam Hammill, George Elokobi, James Spray and Adlene Guedioura getting the goals
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2. Keeping the squad competitive
The Carabao Cup has usually been seen as an opportunity to offer those players who haven't had the maximum amount game time within the Premier League their opportunity to shine. within the second round, Lage gave a primary start of the season to John Ruddy, Ki-Jana Hoever, Leander Dendoncker, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Fabio Silva and scorers Gibbs-White and Podence, and it might come as no surprise if those six of these seven – with Gibbs-White now on loan at Sheffield United – were named on the teamsheet to face Spurs come 6.45pm on Wednesday night.
Since taking over Forest, Lage has also seen Willy Boly and Yerson Mosquera return from injury, also because the signing of Hee Chan Hwang, and with all 11 starters from Saturday’s top-flight clash with Brentford still available, the top coach – who is hoping to stay all 18 outfield players in his squad competitive – has many options to chose from going into the third round tie.
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3. A second Nuno return
You know that one question both managers are going to be asked before Wednesday night’s game are going to be the return of the Spurs boss – and former Wolves head coach – Nuno Espirito Santo to Molineux having left the club within the summer. It must are something quite fate for Wolves to be drawn to face Tottenham exactly a month since the edges squared off against one another within the Premier League – Wolves’ first game of the campaign.
On that day, Nuno got the higher of his former side, as Dele Alli’s penalty proved to be the difference during a game which Wolves quite dominated, but couldn't find how past Hugo Lloris within the Tottenham goal. But when the teams meet again on Wednesday evening, the edges going head-to-head could well look tons different to those in August, with Nuno famed during his time responsible at Molineux in rotating his squad for this competition (no-one mention the last 16 game at Aston Villa!).
4.Both sides need a win
It’s been a difficult start to the season for Lage, having faced one among the toughest Premier League opening fixture schedules with Leicester City, Manchester United and Spurs in August, before they got their first win on the board against Watford last week. But after a disappointing loss to newly-promoted Brentford, the Wolves supporters are going to be wanting a reaction from the players, who were praised – despite not getting the results their performances warranted – earlier within the campaign.
Tottenham began the season impressively, earning consecutive 1-0 wins, but since the turn of September, Nuno’s men have dropped back-to-back 3-0 losses, falling to Crystal Palace and Chelsea on successive weekends. Spurs also are competing within the Europa Conference League, meaning their fixture list is as busy as the other top-flight team, and flew to France last week for his or her first group stage match against Rennes. With just a 2-2 attract that match, the Spurs supporters – who saw their side reach last season’s Carabao final , before losing to eight-time champions Manchester City – are going to be quite expecting to form it into the fourth round.
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