Wolves are down in west London tonight to face Chelsea in the Premier League – and the team news is in.
Wolves come into this game having suffered back-to-back 3-0 defeats in the Premier League against Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United, and Pereira could do with a result tonight at Stamford Bridge.
Everton beat Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, and Crystal Palace also ran out winners against West Ham United.
Currently, Wolves are level on points with Ipswich Town, and are only out of the relegation zone by virtue of a better goal difference.
Chelsea walloped Wolves 6-2 in the reverse fixture at Molineux back in August and that result will need to serve as fuel tonight.
Chelsea have just been stuttering a bit lately, and are winless in their last five in the league, losing three.
So Wolves may fancy causing an upset – and Pereira has now selected the starting players he hopes can help to achieve that.
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Wolves team news vs Chelsea – Pablo Sarabia starts, Matheus Cunha returns, but no Mario Lemina despite apology
Pereira has made a few changes to the side that lost to Newcastle.
Jose Sa retains his place in goal, and in front of him there’s a backline of Matt Doherty, Santiago Bueno and Emmanuel Agbadou.
Nelson Semedo returns to the starting XI at right wing-back, while Rayan Ait-Nouri again starts on the left.
Joao Gomes and Andre start together in midfield, and the attack consists of Matheus Cunha – back starting again for the first time since the game with Tottenham on December 29 – Jorgen Strand Larsen and Pablo Sarabia.
Sarabia starting comes as something of a surprise, as the Spaniard hasn’t done so in the league since November 11 against Southampton. Pereira may well have opted to go with Rodrigo, who is in good form and can play as a winger.
So Pereira has made three changes to the side that started against Newcastle: Semedo, Cunha and Sarabia come in, and Rodrigo Gomes, Hwang Hee-chan and Goncalo Guedes drop out.
Interestingly, there is once again no Mario Lemina in the matchday squad. This is despite Pereira saying Lemina had apologised after his antics last week.
Lemina, of course, had refused to play against Newcastle and was subsequently left out.
Wolves and Chelsea head-to-head
Wolves have not fared too badly against Chelsea in recent times.
Obviously there was that awful 6-2 defeat the last time the sides met.
But Wolves won three last three before that, and in fact, there have only been two Chelsea wins in the last eight meetings (three Wolves wins, three draws).
Regarding the overall record, Wolves have 43 wins over Chelsea. Chelsea have 45 wins, and there have been 30 draws between the clubs.