The Wolves boss Bruno Lage has made the Wanderers into Top Six challengers this season, and will jump ahead of Arsenal if they get all three points tonight at Molineux.
This is a crucial fortnight ahead for as they have a daunting fixture list of playing Arsenal twice, and Tottenham, Leicester and West Ham in the space of 15 days which would be a tough run for any team right now. And every opponent is also in the Top Six race at the moment so every game is a six-pointer.
Lage is well aware of the task ahead, and has called on his players to fight for every point. “Now is the right time to make pressure because we are on 34 points and that can give us comfort, but I don’t want anyone comfortable,” Lage told the ExpressAndStar.
“Now is the time to come, step forward and show character to continue to play with ambition to win more points and conquer more things for the club.
“They’re important games because the teams are there near us and, first, we need to come with personality and character to play our game and win the game.”
In contrast, Arsenal only have 3 games in the same time period, but with the two games against Wolves it is also crucial to our season and the League table could be looking vastly different in a few weeks time, so there is just as much pressure on Arteta to pick his team back up after a disastrous January.
So will the winner tonight be the team that handles the pressure the best?
Watch Mikel Arteta talking the transfer window, Aubameyang and the squad size.
Both sides will play well. One side will have a little more luck and win. That sums up 90% of football games.
So luck is why city are topping the league with 12 points
Its not only the side that handles pressure well will win but also the side that plays to a plan and with determination will win. Hope Arteta has prepared the team well for the match as it comes after a long winter break and we had no FA Cup games at the weekend so the players have got lot of rest and practice time.
With United drawing and Spurs losing we have a real opportunity here.
Unfortunately we didn’t sign anyone, could’ve really helped with th push for top 4.
We weren’t planning on challenging for top 4 but other teams being poor have handed us a real chance, we should’ve added a player or 2!
@PJ-SA
Agree completely. Hope the lPartey and Xhaka take over the midfield and Laca, Nketiah and Pepe the CF positions and this should make up for the lack of signings.
The difficulty with any January signings at any Club is needing immediate impact for the rest of the season, sometimes it can work sometimes not, on occasion it can be affected by why the players has left their previous Club
I think our team at the moment is doing well because the guys seem to work as a team, they appear to like and respect each other and have a unity that could give them the edge going into this next period, they have an existing rythm
There is no doubt that there are better individual players out there but for them to come into an established group mid season and completely hit the ground running is difficult and could work the other way
I have faith and confidence in the guys we have got right now and believe that we will finish the season well even if we don’t get the result tonight that we want, the summer is a much better time to bring in fresh blood
Unfortunately guys, we have proven time and time again that when pressure moment arise, and opportunities to take advantage of other teams’ slip ups present themselves, we tend to flop and not turn up. It’s a mental thing as much as anything and I really want the team to prove me wrong for once.
I hope we see more creativity and flair in this game, rather than the negative overly-defensive style we seem to fall into during big games.
Arteta seems to really favor the players now, and would be nice to see him trust them a bit more and allow some freedom in their play rather than typical scripted and static play.
I believe we are more than capable of getting 3 points, but it will come down to tactics and how direct we are in attack. Quick passing, direct play to pin them back and rob them of any momentum they may achieve.
I think we may not be seeing the combination of partey and xhaka today… xhaka is getting to the end of the road with arteta
I am expecting arsenal to win wolves tonight but I am beginning to have a rethink, after man United and spurs dropped valuable points yesterday.
We are notorious for not taking advantage when our close rivals drop point and I don’t expect tonight game to be any different.
Good luck gonnerz
Away at Wolves play Lokonga & Partey in the middle, Xhaka is a liability and he’s had too many chances as it is on and off the pitch.
Øde & Smithrowe play Am & Lw between them, Saka on the right with Pepe there for sub with Martinelli up top on his own.
The back 5 picks itself with Taveres there to cover both wing backs for the time being.
This team, if stays fit, can make the Top4 considering everyone else is throwing points away around us in the table and we have games in hand over our rivals for Top4.
If Mikel can pull that off with this squad then hats off to him considering all the players he has banished since he arrived. I’m quietly confident we can do this….
If we can get over this mental block of not taking advantage of situations that are presented to us to better our position in the league from the teams around us we bottle it, that is my only concern with this squad to make Top4 as its there for the taking.