Opposition View: Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolverhampton Wanderers have enjoyed a stunning first Premier League campaign in six years, reaching the semi finals of the FA Cup and being in with a good shot of finishing as “the best of the rest” by securing seventh spot in the table.

With the talented Nuno at the helm and a squad packed with excellent players, they’ve played entertaining attacking football and look set to be a regular feature of the top flight for many years to come so long as they maintain the financial backing of their Chinese owners Fosun International and their links with the Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes.

It’s all a far cry from what has gone on at the Albion over the last four months. Still, we happen to have a ridiculously good record against Wolves, so could a trip to Molineux be where the Seagulls season takes a much-needed turn for the better?

We spoke to Tom Baugh from Wolves blog to find out.

Wolves have enjoyed quite the first season back in the Premier League. How’s it gone compared to your expectations for the campaign back in August?
I thought we had enough to comfortably avoid the relegation scrap but it’s definitely surpassed my expectations. I didn’t think we’d be pushing teams inside the top six so hard and generally being best of the rest.

Given the success you’ve enjoyed this year, what do you think your chances of holding onto your star players are. And of course Nuno, who has been heavily linked with the Chelsea job?
This will be an interesting summer for sure because the big clubs will have taken notice of what Nuno and the players have been doing. I’m hopeful we can retain all key personnel and push again with owners keen to invest, but impossible to know where it will go. Nuno to Chelsea I could see happening but he’s onto a good thing at Molineux so it’s a risky move even if he’s offered the chance.

Plenty has been made of your links with Jorge Mendes, but Fulham have proven this season that throwing money at good players doesn’t guarantee results. How much of your success comes from the manager?
Most of it I’d say. He’s got a specific way of playing, a well-drilled group of players and a vice-like grip on how the team operates. Strong recruitment has helped of course but I don’t think exclusively down to Mendes. Saying that, something doesn’t seem right about getting Moutinho for £6 million so I think we can definitely thank Uncle Jorge for that one.

The second season is notoriously harder than the first. What do you think Wolves need to do to push onto the next level? Could you see yourselves cracking the top six in the not-too-distant future?
We just need to keep doing what we’ve done for the last 18 months. Retain the manager along with the core group of players and add a handful more that can improve the team in the summer. Easier said than done of course. It’s a big leap to push the top six so for the moment I’d take another season like this one.

Brighton sneaked a 1-0 win over Wolves at the Amex, largely thanks to the brilliance of Maty Ryan in the Albion goal. What did you make of that previous meeting?
It was a pretty typical Wolves defeat in that they conceded a relatively soft goal and then couldn’t break down a well-organised defence. Your keeper did make some saves and I recall thinking we should have had a penalty at one point but I also remember feeling frustrated we hadn’t done more in the game.

What can we expect to see from Wolves on Saturday?
We’ve been good at home for a while, so from our perspective I’d be hoping to see us playing on the front foot and asking questions of a team struggling for confidence. Unlike the game at the Amex, we’ve got two strikers in decent form and they are a real handful so I do expect us to score. We’re still on a downer from our own semi-final defeat though and were poor against Southampton so there is at least some cause for optimism for you Seagulls.

Any advice for Chris Hughton on how to go about beating Wolves? Don’t worry about giving away any secrets – even if he reads this, we’ll play the same team and tactics regardless.
Whatever Huddersfield did to us twice – do that. They nullified our midfield, didn’t let our defence play out and made the game pig ugly. Then when the opportunities came they took them. Burnley did the same thing the other week and scored with their only attacks of the game. I suspect you’re the type of team who could execute a similar game plan.

Where do you think the title is going to end up? And who do you think is joining Fulham and Huddersfield in the Championship next season?
I fancy Liverpool now for the title. I think it’s asking a lot of City to beat both Spurs and Man United in a week. That said, Liverpool are playing us on the final day and I reckon we’re well setup to spoil the party. It’s you or Cardiff for the drop and I think you’ll survive – just about. Points on the board this close to the finsih are priceless. Something tells me you’ll get the result you need against us or Newcastle.

Finally, a prediction please?
We should win this game, but I can see it being a 1-1 or even a scuffy 1-0 to Brighton, such is your need for the result and our poor record against the strugglers and Brighton in recent years. But I’ll go with the 1-1.

Thanks to Tom for answering our questions – and his faith that the Albion will survive, which is more than many of us have left! You can thank him for his support by following Wolves Blog on Twitter.