Nuno Espirito Santos’ Wolves host Southampton in an intriguing top flight game this evening- the final one of Week 9 in the Premier League. The Midlands outfit are in the bottom half of the table, but the congested nature of the league means they could draw level on points with fifth placed Saints in the standings with a win tonight at Molineux.
Southampton have been one of the surprise packages of the season so far. Their campaign started in dreadful fashion, with back to back defeats against Crystal Palace and Southampton, but Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men have bounced back to take 16 points from a possible 18 in their next six games. The results included impressive wins over both in-form Everton and Aston Villa and a 3-3 draw against Frank Lampard’s Chelsea.
Victory for Saints here will see them jump to third in the table, overtaking Leicester, who were soundly beaten 3-0 at Anfield by defending champions Liverpool yesterday. However they will have to do it without key marksman Danny Ings, who is out injured. Another major injury worry for Ralph Hasenhuttl is midfielder James Ward Prowse, whose set piece ability could prove crucial in this game. Wolves were undone by a lovely Jacob Murphy free kick against Newcastle, and Saints would’ve taken note of that vulnerability.
Like Southampton, Wolves also had a shaky start to the season, but bounced back in October before having a four-game unbeaten run snapped by Leicester before the international break. All three of Wolves’ fellow Midlands teams- West Brom, Villa and LCFC tasted defeat this weekend, but they are being tipped to buck that trend. A look at some well-known sportsbook operators via acebettingsites.co.uk indicates that the hosts are strong favourites (22/15) for this clash, with Saints outsiders (12/5 at the time of writing) for this trip to Molineux.
Nuno, manager of the month for October, will be hoping that Conor Coady is available for this clash after his self isolation period. The centre-back is a hugely influential player and is key to Wolves’ defensive solidity- they have conceded only 9 times in the league so far, the joint best defence alongside leaders Spurs.
Wolves also have another unnamed senior player diagnosed with Covid- widely rumoured to be either Saiss on Dendoncker by the club’s fans. Rayan Ait-Nouri picked up an injury on international duty, but his poor display against Leicester could see Fernando Marcal being given the nod ahead of him at left wing-back.
Since both teams returned to the top flight last decade, they’ve played two league games at Molineux. One in October 2019, ended in a 1-1 draw, with Raul Jimenez’s penalty cancelling out Danny Ings’ opener. The other, in September 2018, saw Wolves prevail 2-0 thanks to goals from Ivan Cavaleiro and Jonny. Interestingly enough, all goals in these two games came in the second half- Saints have been predominantly a first-half scoring side this season.
Wolves 1 (Jimenez 61) Southampton 1 (Ings 53)
Wolves 2 (Cavaleiro 79, Jonny 87) Southampton 0
The referee for this game is Andre Marriner. He’s already been involved in one game each featuring Wolves and Southampton- WWFC lost 3-1 to Man City while Saints prevailed 1-0 over Burnley. In encouraging news for Southampton, Marriner has refereed four top flight games in 20/21 so far, and none of them were won by the home side.