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Nuno Espirito Santo says he’ll be playing with a back four, for avoidance of doubt. He’s asked about the clear-the-air meeting his squad had in the build-up to this game:
Now actions. Those were the moments to speak, now we needs to translate those words into actions. It’s the only way to improve. [The injury to Jimenez] will stay forever in our memories but that’s not the focus now. It is over, and we have a big challenge in front of us.
I rarely feel sorry for footballers, but this horribly-lit coach-exiting ambush photograph does seem a little cruel. Not cruel enough to stop me publishing it though.
Meanwhile at Bramall Lane:
Sheff Utd: Ramsdale, Baldock, Basham, Egan, Ampadu, Bogle, Lundstram, Norwood, Fleck, McGoldrick, Sharp. Subs: McBurnie, Lowe, Burke, Jagielka, Foderingham, Brewster, Bryan, Ndiaye, Brunt.
West Brom: Johnstone, O’Shea, Ajayi, Bartley, Townsend, Phillips, Livermore, Snodgrass, Matheus Pereira, Diagne, Robinson. Subs: Furlong, Gibbs, Robson-Kanu, Gallagher, Sawyers, Ivanovic, Peltier, Button, Ahearne-Grant.
Referee: Paul Tierney.
Two changes for the Blades.
McGoldrick and Sharp come into the side while Zak Brunt & Iliman Ndiaye earn spots on the bench. #SHUWBA pic.twitter.com/ANbvafpPaV
Team news is in at Bramall Lane.
Conor Townsend and Matt Phillips return to the XI, while Mbaye Diagne is set to make his first @premierleague start. COYB! @MonsterEnergy | #SHUWBA
Two changes for Wolves, for whom Traore and Neves are back, while Saka replaces Martinelli for Arsenal after passing a late fitness test. The teams in full:
Wolverhampton: Rui Patricio, Nelson Semedo, Coady, Boly, Kilman, Daniel Podence, Neves, Joao Moutinho, Traore, Willian Jose, Pedro Neto. Subs: Hoever, Silva, Gibbs-White, Vitinha, Ruddy, Dendoncker, Richards, Otasowie.
Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Luiz, Cedric, Thomas, Xhaka, Saka, Smith-Rowe, Pepe, Lacazette. Subs: Gabriel, Ceballos, Willian, Runarsson, Aubameyang, Chambers, Elneny, Martinelli, Odegaard.
Referee: Craig Pawson.
Here's how Wolves line-up for this evening's @premierleague fixture against @Arsenal. #WOLARS
pic.twitter.com/xIR1oGYaBS
One change from Saturday
➡️ @BukayoSaka87
⬅️ @g_martinelli01
Auba and Dani in the squad#WOLARS
When these teams met at the Emirates at the end of November Wolves emerged with all three points but for them it was to prove a night of triumph and of trauma. They were seventh in the league, which is as close to home as Wolves get - in seven of the last 23 seasons, a shade over 30%, they have finished seventh in one division or another, including three of the last six. But casting a pall over this was the injury to Raul Jimenez sustained in the early stages of that match, when he fractured his skull in a clash of heads with David Luiz, a cruel blow in every sense. Wolves have taken six of a possible 33 points since that night, the worst record in the division (joint with West Brom), and their desperation to reignite their attack has seen them sign Willian Jose from Spain’s Royal Society, who is still very much in his settling-in period, 10 days after his arrival.
In the build-up to this match, Nuno Espirito Santo called a crisis meeting at which the squad talked through their current issues. “The dialogue was positive and sharing our feelings is positive, but then we have to transform that into action, and that is what we want to do tomorrow, transforming the feelings, the words into actions,” he said. “We have not had much time on the training ground, due to the short turnaround between games, but we addressed the problems, and we are trying to find the solutions to raise our standards and be able to perform again.”
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