It goes without saying that we need to keep our form and winning ways up on 27th December and it comes against a side we’ve struggled against, at times, since they returned to the Premier League last season.
At the start of last season, we went to Molineux and, despite a handball goal for the home side, they were 'good' for their hard-graft, 1-1 draw. The return league fixture saw that same handball player sent off early and the win for us was easy in the end.
Earlier this season, Wolves faced an 'out of sorts' City on 'our patch' and 'put us to the sword' in a 0-2 away win. We need to rectify that on Friday night.
Following the Leicester City game…
…my thoughts, on-line, went like this:
Marvellous
performance from all yesterday and it’s great to see our wonderful manager
mixing it up a little, as he did successfully at Arsenal last week.
I’ve never been
convinced by Mendy for so many reasons but I will always give credit when & where
it is due – that’s the most I’ve ever said, “Well-done Mendy” in a match since
he arrived. I thought his passes / crosses were measured and with thought
today, rather than seemingly-blindly thrashing it over or passing it to a
teammate under pressure.
I think the best
thing about Mahrez yesterday was that, despite his goal coming from his usual dink
inside; he mixed it up a lot, similar to what we see Bernardo do on the right. I
think some criticism that might come Riyad’s way from time to time is because
he doesn’t often do that and can become predictable, despite his obvious
talent. Well done fella.
They were all very
good today; 7s were a minimum. Kevin was fantastic again and definitely MotM but I wanted to mention
Bernardo too, who looked like a young David today in the middle of the park.
As much as I thought
Bernardo, last season, was awesome on the right; it’s great to have both him
& Phil as options in the middle and with Mahrez seemingly coming good and
Leroy hopefully not far
off a return (and David still here too of course), I think it’s just become
that little bit harder for Foden to muscle his way into the midfield of this
talented squad.
v Wolverhampton Wanderers
 |
| Molineux |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct
from starting line-up in the last game: 10/11).
Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:
____________________Jesus____________________
Sterling________________________________Mahrez
__________De
Bruyne________B. Silva____________
____________________Rodri_____________________
Mendy_________________________________Cancelo
__________Fernandinho_____Otamendi____________
____________________Ederson___________________
Ederson has the gloves.
I can honestly only see one change
to the defence tomorrow; perhaps I’ll be wrong and there might be no
changes. However, I’m only going for Joao to come in the on the right to join
Nicolas, Fernandinho & Benjamin, who deserves another go after one of his
better performances last Saturday.
I think Rodders will get a start
as the deeper midfielder and there’s no reason I can think of why our manager
wouldn’t stick with Raheem, Kevin, Bernardo & Riyad as the attacking
midfield / wing quartet.
Gabriel leads the attack once
more.
Bravo the back-up keeper;
Oleksandr, Kyle & Eric are the defensive replacement choices from ‘the 7’.
Apparently struggling with a little muscle tightness; Ilkay will probably start
on the side alongside Phil as midfielders on the bench. Sergio isn’t ready for
a full game but might see some minutes from the side.
Notable
absences:
- Angelino – Not selected.
- Aymeric Laporte – From last we heard;
the French defender should-now-be about 2-½ to 4-½ weeks away from a return.
- John Stones – After being told that
he was back in training and close to being available; it’s clear that he’s
suffered a setback and isn’t fit to return just yet.
-
David Silva – STILL not over a knock he received
the other week.
-
Leroy Sane – Continues his return from long-term injury on the training pitches.
I have no probs with
that one – I just hope Rodders is ‘up for the fight’ and is told to expect a good
workout in midfield for this one…
Result?
Once again, I think it’ll be tough and their manager won’t
have been pleased to see their first half against lowly Norwich City.
Although they came out 1-2 away winners; it was a game I watched most of and
could consider themselves fortunate to leave with all-3 points. They were
nowhere in the first half at least.
They will have ‘had talks’ about that, I’m
sure, and will be ‘up for this one’ right ‘form the off’.
But, similar to what I said before
the Leicester game, if we are ‘on it’ too – and we are at the moment and unlike
when we played these back in October – then we should win this one.
It won’t be easy – there’s a reason they
sit 6th as I type this – but I am going for our fine
performances and form to continue and ‘see us right’. It’s an away win for me.
Last season’s,
corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: Win
Result: Draw
Expected weather conditions during
the game: Overcast but dry and even 8C isn’t too bad for the first week of winter.
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