please log in to view this image Sunday 22nd August 2pm Premier League Molineux Stadium Beating Man City with a clean sheet and then losing to a Portuguese side that nobody's ever heard of? This is the kind of **** that we've got very used to in the last few years, unfortunately. Spursy, indeed. Now our manager gets to go back to the club that he's probably best well known for coaching. An opportunity for him to make a point to them and for them to show that they made the right decision. Can Nuno Espirito Santo restore the feelgood factor or will our erratic start continue? Wolves had a rather mediocre season last time out, following several very good campaigns. The injection of Chinese money and Jorge Mendes' clients certainly moved the club onto another level. This has clearly raised expectations though, as one poor year was enough to change managers. Bruno Lage replaced his compatriot in the summer, having been sacked himself by Benfica in July. His coaching career has largely been reserve or youth teams prior to this. I was expecting Wolves to sign another striker this season, following the issues that they had last time. Raul Jimenez' injury derailed their campaign badly, so his recovery could be key to them. Willian Jose returned to Sociedad, Rafa Mir was sold to Sevilla and Patrick Cutrone has been loaned to Empoli. That's a lot of pressure on Fabio Silva again, if things don't work out well for their Mexican striker. They've been relatively quiet in the transfer window, like most teams, as things are tight financially all around. Our visit to their place last season was quite early on, yet fairly typical of what we got used to throughout. Ndombele opened the scoring after a minute and we threatened to extend that lead for a while. That positivity was soon replaced by sitting back and trying to absorb pressure, with inevitable results. Roman Saiss equalised from a corner with about five minutes left, yet we had time to cause more panic. A free header for Silva was directed straight at Lloris and the points were shared: The return fixture was a far better performance, as Ryan Mason set things out in a positive fashion. Kane rattled the woodwork early on and others chances were spurned, until just before the break. Kane was sent through on goal with seconds left to go and put it away calmly to claim the lead. He hit the post again after half-time and Alli's follow-up struck the opposite upright as we dominated. Hojbjerg was the unlikely second scorer, as he scrambled home after Bale's shot was saved: Carter-Vickers and Ndombele are out for this one, while Kane, Romero and Sessegnon will all be assessed. Podence, Boly, Jonny, Neto, Mosquera and Bueno all miss out for the hosts, who have limited numbers. Neither side has any suspensions. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Tanganga, Sanchez, Dier, Reguilon; Hojbjerg, Skipp, Alli; Moura, Son, Bergwijn. Subs: Gollini, Doherty, Romero, Davies, Winks, Lo Celso, Sissoko, Gil, Scarlett. Wolves: Sa; Hoever, Saiss, Coady, Kilman, Marcal; Trincao, Neves, Moutinho, Traore; Jimenez. Subs: Ruddy, Semedo, Marques, Ait-Nouri, Dendoncker, Cundle, Gibbs-White, Campbell, Silva. Ref: Stuart Atwell. VAR: Martin Atkinson. TV: Not televised. How would you like to line up for this one? Would you stick with much of the same lineup from the Pacos game, tinker a little or change it completely? Which system and tactics would you use and what are you expecting Wolves to go with?
Think it'll be the same XI as City but Kane will replace Scarlett on the bench. Romero will likely start on Thursday again and then Nuno can assess if he's fit enough to hopefully replace Dier for the Watford game.
The Kane saga has triggered rcl into being a full-time combatant in the 2021-22 Paul Stewart Cup. < you see what you've done, Harry !!! >
To the surprise of nobody, Matt Doherty is one of those people who never covers their nose when wearing a facemask
Happy with the selection, deserved it after the City game. Kane on the bench as I predicted too, albeit for Romero (who's nursing an injury) and not Scarlett. Good to see Sess on the bench for this one as well. Huge congrats - and a thank you - to Lloris too, 300 league appearances for us. May not be in his prime any more and for a spell I certainly questioned him but all in all by far the best keeper I've seen for Spurs in my life time. Deserves a testimonial at the end of the season.
