EPL: Tottenham put Euro woes behind, aim for maximum points at Molineux
Tottenham Hotspur will look to put their European woes behind them when they travel to the Molineux to face Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Tottenham will be aiming to make it back-to-back victories at the start of their 2021/22 top-flight campaign as they visit the Molineux to take on Wolves in the Sunday afternoon Premier League fixture on Matchday 2.
Wolves had a decent performance at the King Power Stadium last Saturday. They were highly proactive and had far more influence to attack under new head coach Bruno Lage, but the lack of killer instincts in front of goal from Adama Traore proved costly for the West Midlands outfit as a brilliant deft finish from Jamie Vardy in the closing moments of the first half was enough to bag Leicester all crucial three points.
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Lage will now have the task of leading his team to their first home game of the campaign, hoping to ruin Nuno Espirito Santo’s sentimental homecoming to the Molineux. On the other side, Tottenham just defeated Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City 1-0 in their Premier League opener last week.
It was a superb defensive display from the Lilywhites to keep the defending champions’ attack at bay and stayed resilient to preserve Son Heung-min’s exquisite second half strike, firing a Harry Kane-less Spurs to secure all-important three points in front of a raucous home crowd.
The joy and jubilation at Tottenham, however, was short-lived as a completely rotated side put up a poor performance on their away trip to Portugal, where they were comfortably beaten 1-0 by Premeira Liga outfit Pacos de Ferreira in the first leg of the newly formed Europa Conference League Qualifying play-off.
Last time out when these sides locked horns in the Premier League at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the game resulted in a 2-0 victory for Spurs thanks to the goals slotted home by Harry Kane and Pierre-EmilHojberg. Ahead of the latest meeting between the two sides, The Hard Tackle takes a closer look at the encounter.
Wolves have had a busy summer window as regards to both new signings and departures; Goalkeeper Jose Sa and winger Francisco Trincao earned their debut appearance in the opening weekend’s loss to Leicester City.
Wolves boss Bruno Lage has no fresh injury concerns, but the club is still without five first-team members for this encounter. Jonny Otto, Willy Boly, Daniel Podence, Yerson Mosquera, and Hugo Bueno are still sidelined due to their respective injury issues. In a piece of good news, Pedro Neto is said to be making good strides in his road to recovery and will soon become available in the coming matches.
It is believed that Lage will keep it consistent by fielding the same lineup as in the Leicester game but with one or two changes. He will certainly opt for the familiar 3-4-3 Wolves’ setup. New signing Jose Sa will be in the nets; he made a couple of good saves to deny Vardy in the last game that will surely boost his confidence arriving in the Premier League.
This week, Lage may go with a back-three of Max Kilman, captain Conor Coady, and Romain Sass as they all strive to deliver a good defensive display against Tottenham. Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho will continue as a midfield combination as they attempt to create some scoring opportunities for Adama Traore and Raul Jimenez.
Marcal was very rash and physical last weekend and will have another chance to shine in the left wing-back role, with Nelson Semedo filling in on the other flank. Morgan Gibbs-White was lively after coming on as a late substitute but will have to contend with a place on the bench. Wolves fans are calling out for Leander Dendoncker to be involved from the start to provide energy in midfield, but it seems he will be used as a substitute later in the game.