GW 11: Wolves vs. Tottenham

Wolves host Tottenham at Molineux on Saturday with the home side looking to turn around their form from the last couple of matches. Wolves have lost their last 2 games against Watford and Brighton which is a significant decrease in form since the beginning of the season where at one point they sat in 7th place. Tottenham also lost in their last game but they played against the incredible Manchester City side losing narrowly 1-0. With both teams having high ambitions for this season and recent dips in form this game becomes a must win for the sides involved.

Wolves this season have been incredibly impressive this season and have played an expansive and open style of football that has lead them to being 10th at the moment even with them being a newly promoted side. With this game being a home game they’ll want to get at least a draw out of it as their home form this season has been very noticeable. At home they’ve only lost one match (their recent game against Watford) this season and they’ll be hoping to keep up their solid home record. Wolves’ solid defence has been key to their success this season and they’ve only conceded 9 goals in 10 matches so far. This strong defence has kept sides like Man City and Man Utd. to 1-1 draws.

The key player for Wolves in this match will be the defensive midfielder Ruben Neves. He’s played all 10 matches for Wolves this season and has been the fulcrum in the side, linking defence to attack. His ball winning ability should come in handy in this match where they’re not expected to dominate the possession and they’ll need him to be on top form to stop the attacking midfielders Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen. Another player will be goalkeeper Rui Patricio who has been brilliant for Wolves this season. The Portuguese shot stopper has made 30 saves this season and currently averages three a match. Another interesting thing about Patricio is that he’s making an impressive 6 successful long balls a match. The final player who will expected to leave a mark on this game for Wolves is the striker Raul Jimenez. Wolves haven’t scored that many this season with a total of 9 goals in the premier league and he has been involved in 5 of those goals this season with 2 goals and 3 assists. This means that he is Wolves’ highest goalscorer and has their most in the PL this season. His link up play has been brilliant this season and he could definitely be a player amongst the goals in this one.

Tottenham have had a bit of a rocky start to the season after being so consistent under Pochettino over the last few seasons and they currently sit in 5th place a mere one point ahead of Bournemouth and 5 points off the top of the table. Admittedly they have faced some big injury problems and before their last match against Man. City they had gone on a 4 game winning streak in the PL. Despite these strong statistics they have struggled against bigger teams and particularly against sides with strong defences this season. This is highlighted by the fact that they have the same amount of goals as 12th place Leicester this season and that 5 teams behind them in the table have equal or more goals scored. This has largely been down to a decrease in form from Harry Kane and the injuries that Alli and Eriksen have picked up this season.

A player that will be key to Tottenham this game is Erik Lamela. When Alli and Eriksen were left injured Lamela slotted right into the vacated central attacking mid spot wonderfully and have been Spurs’ main source of creativity and energy throughout the last few matches. Even though Eriksen and Alli should be fit to play in this match it would be hard to exclude a player who has 3 goals and 1 assist in just 252 minutes this season. Of course Tottenham’s front man Harry Kane will be important as well and his 5 goals this season makes him the clubs top scorer so far. He hasn’t hit the heights that he has a previous seasons and he needs to step up his game as he hasn’t scored in his past three PL appearances despite playing the defensively weak Cardiff and West Ham in that period.

Wolves have no major injury scares for this one regarding any late training problems whereas Spurs have a few people in their injury books at the moment. Vertonghen will definitely be out for this one and is not expected to return from his hamstring injury till early December. Rose and Dier could also potentially miss out on this one with Rose being a more concerning issue. Dier should be fit to play with Mauricio Pochettino reporting that he only suffered cramps when he limped off the field at the end of the Man. City game. It’s still not certain whether Rose will play in this one and we’ll have to see what the reports are later on in the week.

These two sides are very strong and have played some good football this season and this should turn out to be an interesting and tight match. If Tottenham were at home in this one you would expect them to come out with a win but since this one is being played at Molineux where Wolves have a very good record this could go either way. You wouldn’t expect this game to be particularly high scoring with both teams scoring a combined 3 goals in the last 3 PL match weeks. My final prediction for this one is a 1-1 draw.