Wolves return from the international break next weekend with a home clash against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
It’s been a dismal start to the season for Wolves, who are winless in their opening seven Premier League matches, recording just a single point on the board.
Gary O’Neil will need to turn the tide soon as he faces increasing pressure in the Wanderers’ hot seat, though hosting Man City is hardly a promising chance of their fortunes changing.
The Wanderers were beaten 5-3 by Brentford before the international break while the champions are unbeaten in their first seven games, winning five and drawing two.
Last season, O’Neil pulled off a famous 2-1 win over Man City, and that was the catalyst for a positive first campaign at Molineux. The Englishman will be hoping for similar outcome next weekend.
Latest Wolves team news ahead of Manchester City
Wolves were dealt a blow after Hwang Hee-chan went off injured for South Korea in their World Cup qualifying match against Jordan.
The forward limped off the field with what looked like a bad ankle injury and as a result, could miss their clash with the champions.
O’Neil was dealt positive news on a different attacker, however, as striker Sasa Kalajdzic returned to the grass for the first time after recovering from an ACL injury.
Kalajdzic could still play a part for Wolves this season but that isn’t the case for Yerson Mosquera, who is sidelined for the rest of the 2024/25 season after suffering an ACL and MCL injury.
Mosquera is joined by midfielder Boubacar Traore and Enso Gonzalez as the club’s two long-term absentees.
With that said, here’s our early predicted XI for the match.
Wolves early predicted XI vs Manchester City
O’Neil has hinted at switching to a back three for this game and perhaps moving forward, with Sam Johnstone continuing in goal.
Wolves only have three fit senior centre-backs but they should all start here. That means Santiago Bueno should line up on the right, Craig Dawson centrally and Toti Gomes on the left.
A switch to a three-man defence means Nelson Semedo and Rayan Ait-Nouri can return to their role as a right wing-back and left wing-back, providing the width for O’Neil.
The biggest call he may have to make in this fixture is whether to drop the ‘terrific’ Mario Lemina.
It’s unlikely however, Lemina was poor in the defeat to Brentford and could benefit from starting on the bench with Andre and Joao Gomes forming a midfield duo.
In this system, Wolves have two wingers and a striker. Carlos Forbs should continue on the right with Matheus Cunha on the left and Jorgen Strand Larsen up top.
Wolves (3-4-3): Johnstone; Bueno, Dawson, Toti; Semedo, Gomes, Andre, Ait-Nouri; Forbs, Cunha, Larsen.