Wolves busy schedule to be prolonged by Europa League group stages

Wolves 2-1 Torino

Goals: Raùl Jiménez (£7.4m), Leander Dendoncker (£4.5m)

Assists: Adama Traoré (£5.0m), Diogo Jota (£6.4m)

Raúl Jiménez (£7.4m) continued his excellent start to the 2019/20 season by scoring a crucial goal for Wolves in their 2-1 win over Torino on Thursday night.

The Mexican forward has now found the net six times in as many qualifiers for the Europa League, a truly incredible feat considering that he returned to the Wolves training camp later than his colleagues this summer after winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup with his country.

That said, just one of his seven goals in nine matches in all competitions this campaign have come in the Premier League, as midweek European exploits have been leaving Jiménez and his team-mates a little laboured in their Sunday afternoon FPL outings.

While Wolves fans will be ecstatic to see their side qualify for the Europa League group stages for the first time since 1981, Fantasy managers with half an eye on their assets may be less keen.

As the qualifying rounds have grown tougher with each new opponent, manager Nuno Espirito Santo has been forced to use more and more of his first-team players for extensive periods on Thursday nights.

Now that Wolves have qualified for the group stages, this trend is likely to continue. Heading into Gameweek 4, their preparation for a Sunday trip to Everton could only start on Friday afternoon according to the manager, while their hosts have been able to do so since Thursday morning.

“It’s so hard, travelling to play different teams. We played on an artificial pitch, it was tough against Crusaders, then Pyunik was tough. Here at Molineux was fantastic, it’s been a long time where we’ve performed so good at home.” – Nuno Espirito Santo

“For me and the boys, in the afternoon we’ll prepare for the next game. Game by game always. Improve during the competition, this is what we want, use the game as a tool for us to grow as a team.” – Nuno Espirito Santo

Both Jiménez and strike-partner Diogo Jota (£6.4m) were on the pitch for at least 81 minutes against Torino, the former coming off only in stoppage time, after the latter was replaced by Patrick Cutrone (£5.9m) just before.

Jota has been a curious prospect so far this season, proving to be one of the hardest working and most dazzling players for Wolves on their European nights but has largely failed to impress in the Premier League.

Still without a shot on target in a domestic match, the Portuguese international was back to his industrious self against Torino, once again involved in the goals. It was his shot in the 58th minute which forced a save out of goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu and led to Leander Dendoncker (£4.5m) scoring the rebound.

The Belgian midfielder was one of four changes that Nuno made to the Wolves side that drew with Burnley on Sunday. Having been an ever-present in the Premier League up until that point, Dendoncker was replaced by Morgan Gibbs-White (£5.0m) against Burnley, but was back in the side on Thursday night and played 90 minutes.

The length of that outing, in a tough match-up against Serie A opposition might concern some of Dendoncker’s 14.2% ownership of another benching against Everton in Gameweek 4, especially considering that Gibbs-White did not register a single minute midweek.

We can be fairly confident that Jiménez and Jota will start once again on Sunday afternoon given they were substituted on Thursday, admittedly later than their owners would have liked.

“The boys have been amazing. Coady played all the minutes, Boly played all the minutes, it’s fantastic. You see on the pitch, the reaction is fantastic, the people that come in give everything they have.” – Nuno Espirito Santo

Almost certain to feature from the beginning at Goodison Park are Matt Doherty (£6.0m) and Ryan Bennett (£5.0m) who did not feature against Torino, while Rúben Neves (£5.5m) played only the last five minutes. Jesus Vallejo (£4.9m) came in at centre-back, while Romain Saïss (£4.4m) was used in central midfield once again.

Vallejo did not have the best game in defence, giving the ball away a few times and struggling to contain striker Andrea Belotti, who scored in the 57th minute. The player certainly has potential but it seems clear that Bennett’s place in the back-three is not yet at threat from the summer signing.

Doherty was, as per usual for these matches, replaced in the starting line-up by Adama Traoré (£5.0m), who continues to be one of Wolves’ best players in the Europa League.

Nuno’s men started this latest match off by sitting deep, allowing Torino to have possession, venturing forward only on the counter-attack. An outlet for this was, not surprisingly, Traoré, whose pace continues to ask problems in the Europa League. It was the wing-back who unlocked the Torino defence in the first-half, providing the cross for Jiménez after a trademark run up the touchline.

As we have mentioned many times in these articles over the summer, Traoré has undergone a transformation over the last few months. Last season, his style of play was underpinned only by his frightening pace but there was very little end-product. However this Europa League campaign has demonstrated that the player has become a lot more focussed in the final third and has been regularly involved in attacking returns. That is something to consider if Doherty is to get another injury, although of course, Traoré is a midfielder in FPL rather than a defender.

“It was important. The way he took the team up, the way he created, the way he unbalanced the opponents. He can do this and he can do other things, he has to improve a lot, but today he was stable in defence, covered the centre back, won balls in the area. We’re building a player and taking the best out of him.” – Nuno Espirito Santo

Wolverhampton Wanderers XI (3-5-2): Patrício; Boly, Coady, Vallejo; Jonny, Moutinho (Neves 90′), Saïss, Dendoncker, Traoré; Jota (Cutrone 81′), Jiménez (Neto 90+2′).

Lessons learned from Gameweek 3

• Aston Villa 2-0 Everton
• Norwich City 2-3 Chelsea
• Brighton 0-2 Southampton
• Manchester United 1-2 Crystal Palace
• Sheffield United 1-2 Leicester City
• Watford 1-3 West Ham United
• Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal
• Bournemouth 1-3 Manchester City
• Spurs 0-1 Newcastle
• Wolves 1-1 Burnley