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Bottom three teams Wolves and Nottingham Forest meet in must-win clash
Wolves to win 1-0
Tournament: Premier League 2022-2023 | Venue: Wolverhampton, West Midlands, Molineux Stadium
Bet NowWolves have not been successful in appointing a new manager over the past week, having lost to Chelsea last weekend also without a head coach in charge.
It has been reported that the club has approached Julen Lopetegui, who has recently been sacked by Sevilla. It has also been reported that the Spanish manager has rejected Wolves’ approach, leaving them back at square one.
It is continuing to damage their Premier League season, with the club sitting well within the bottom three currently. They must start to win these types of games to move up the table, but it won’t be easy.
Nottingham Forest continue to get to grips with life as a Premier League team, something which is taking longer than many at the club would like.
The owner has dismissed two members of his recruitment team this week, clearly not happy with how £150m was spent in the transfer window.
Steve Cooper’s side need results on the pitch, but can he get them here?
Reasons to be cheerful:
Lost just one of their past seven league games against Forest
Have a good record against promoted sides
Reasons to be fearful:
Are the lowest-scoring team in the league
Manager rumours won’t be helping on the pitch
Wolves must make a positive statement in recruiting a new manager before long, otherwise their season may become unsalvageable.
There are rumours that former manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, would be interested in returning to lead the club, although you wonder how fans would respond to the man who left their club for Tottenham.
Their form going into this one is poor, having lost their last three in a row. Only three teams have lost more than their five games, while they’ve scored fewer than half the number of goals than any other club.
When Diego Costa gets up to full fitness, and Raul Jimenez returns from injury, that will help. They can’t wait too long, however, otherwise they’ll slip too far behind the teams just ahead of them in the table.
Star Man – Diego Costa
Much was made of Diego Costa’s return to the Premier League, and whether he could still cope with the demands of the top division at his age. He’ll get his first goal for Wolves eventually, but his side need him now.
Reasons to be cheerful
A draw against Villa was a step in the right direction
Form of Dennis could help them going forward
Reasons to be fearful
Poor record against Wolves
Could return to the bottom of the league with defeat
Nottingham Forest earned a draw in their last game against Aston Villa, in a match that could have realistically gone either way.
Steve Cooper is beginning to work out his best team. He made five changes to his starting line-up in that draw against Villa, clearly not happy with the 4-0 defeat against Leicester.
That XI worked well against Villa and you would expect a similar team to start the game here. The key question is whether they can go one further and claim three points for only the second time this season.
While Forest have scored more goals than Wolves, they’ve conceded an awful lot more too, and their goal difference is way below that of their rivals.
They’ll need a huge performance away from the City Ground here.
Star Man – Emmanuel Dennis
The 24-year-old scored last weekend on his first start for the club. Having signed from Watford in the summer, he has taken time to build up his form and fitness, but he looks like a handful in full flow.
A hard game to call
Wolves’ better defence could be key
Can Costa fire home side to victory?
Even without a permanent manager currently, you would expect Wolves to pull themselves together at some point. They have too much quality in the squad to drift in the bottom three forever.
You wonder if and when Diego Costa will start to make his presence known. He has the personality to drag his teammates along with him, even if the ability is no longer what it was.
Forest have the players to click into gear too, but the home side should be slight favourites here.
Wolves to win 1-0
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