Seeking their first Molineux triumph of the month at the third attempt, Wolverhampton Wanderers welcome Sheffield United to their West Midlands home for a Sunday lunchtime Premier League contest.
Gary O'Neil's men earned another impressive capital scalp last weekend, besting Tottenham Hotspur 2-1, while the meek Blades were put to the sword in a 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Brighton & Hove Albion.
Match preview
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Thirteen days on from inflicting heartache on Chelsea fans with a masterful counter-attacking display, Wolves made lightning strike twice in London at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Joao Gomes's looping header from a Pablo Sarabia corner gave the visitors a slender lead to take into the break.
Some fans were still filtering down the steps to their seats when Dejan Kulusevski prodded home at the near post to level matters for Tottenham, whose long throw was not dealt with by O'Neil's men, but just 17 minutes later, assist king Pedro Neto found Gomes to complete a rapid-fire counter with his second of the afternoon.
O'Neil remarked that his charges should have marched to an even more emphatic success against Ange Postecoglou's lowly troops, and on account of their second successive away win in the division, 11th-placed Wolves are currently just three points below Brighton & Hove Albion in the Europa Conference League spot.
Results on Saturday could increase the gap between Wolves and the top seven, though, and O'Neil has also played down premature talk of potential European sojourns, but the hosts need only draw on Sunday to rise into the top half of the standings owing to Chelsea's participation in the EFL Cup final.
However, while each of Wolves' last three away fixtures in all tournaments have seen O'Neil's team prevail, they have been beaten in their last two home contests versus Brentford and Manchester United, having previously gone eight top-flight games without defeat in front of their loyal supporters.
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Sheffield United will have little sympathy for Wolves over their hosts' recent home shortcomings, though, as the Bramall Lane crowd witnessed one of the worst tackles of the season and one of the worst performances of the season during the visit of Brighton last weekend.
After Mason Holgate rightfully took the walk of shame for an abhorrent challenge on Kaoru Mitoma, Brighton subjected the Blades to yet another Bramall Lane lashing, in which Facundo Buonanotte, Danny Welbeck and Simon Adingra (two) found the mark alongside a Jack Robinson own goal.
On account of becoming the first team in English top-flight history to concede five goals in three straight home matches in all tournaments, Sheffield United's increasingly-slim survival hopes continue to ebb away, as the Blades remain entrenched in 20th place and seven points adrift of safety after 25 games.
Sixty-five goals shipped in just 25 Premier League matches is also the worst record of its kind in the history of the competition, although it is not all doom and gloom for Chris Wilder's basement battlers, who have won two of their three away fixtures of 2024 so far, scoring at least twice in all of them.
Furthermore, the Blades' first Premier League victory of the new term arrived in the reverse fixture with Wolves - although their 2-1 win on November 4 was clouded in controversy - and not since October 2002 have the Blades been on the winning side at Molineux.
Team News
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With Hwang Hee-chan shaking off a previous fitness concern in time to line up against Tottenham, fellow attacker Matheus Cunha is Wolves' only confirmed absentee for the weekend with his serious hamstring injury, and there is still no estimated return date for the Brazilian.
O'Neil admitted in his pre-match press conference that a few unnamed players were dealing with bumps and bruises, but nothing that should impact their availability for the weekend, where the Wolves boss has no reason whatsoever to tinker with his team.
After failing to score in his first 21 Premier League appearances, Gomes arrives at Molineux for Sunday's game with two top-flight goals now under his belt, and the 23-year-old will no doubt link arms with Mario Lemina in the engine room yet again.
In terms of Sheffield United's availability, centre-back Holgate begins a three-game suspension for his first-half red card in the loss to Brighton, joining fellow centre-backs Chris Basham and John Egan (both ankle) on the sidelines for Sunday's match.
Ex-Arsenal man Auston Trusty should earn an immediate recall to the visitors' backline, which has been further depleted by the season-ending injuries to Max Lowe (ankle) and the luckless Rhys Norrington-Davies (hamstring), but George Baldock might be back from an unspecified problem.
Attacking duo Ben Brereton Diaz (thigh) and Cameron Archer (calf) are also on the Blades' touch-and-go list - Wilder was tight-lipped on their progress on Friday but revealed that some unnamed players had been recovering well - although Daniel Jebbison is still a long-term absentee with an unknown health issue.
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Kilman, Toti, Dawson; Semedo, Lemina, Gomes, Ait-Nouri; Neto, Hwang, Sarabia
Sheffield United possible starting lineup:
Grbic; Trusty, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson; Bogle, Souza, Hamer, Davies, Larouci; McAtee, Archer
We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0 Sheffield United
No added incentive is required for O'Neil's men to exact revenge on Sheffield United after November's excruciating defeat, and a depleted Blades defence is at risk of being carved open at well by Neto, Hwang and co.
The visitors' recent away exploits better Wolves' travails in front of the Molineux crowd, although four of their nine goals on the road in 2024 came at Gillingham in the FA Cup, an another solemn Sunday is surely in store for Wilder's troops here.
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Ben Knapton
