Gary O’Neil has been told he can resolve the Matheus Cunha injury problem with one ‘solution’ against Newcastle United this weekend.
Wolves secured their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday night with a 1-0 victory over Brighton.
The Wanderers have been flying across all fronts since Gary O’Neil took over, from pushing towards Europe in the Premier League to battling for silverware.
It’s been an incredible six months with the 40-year-old at Molineux and while they’ve won four of their last five matches, one player they have missed during that run is Matheus Cunha.
The £60k-a-week ace has scored nine goals and supplied six assists in the top flight but has been sidelined since picking up a “significant” hamstring injury in the 2-0 defeat to Brentford.
Although he is making encouraging progress after returning to grass this week, he isn’t fit enough to take his place in the squad against Newcastle and O’Neil has to find a solution to that problem.
Gary O’Neil told how to resolve Matheus Cunha ‘solution’
In the win over Brighton, the Wolves boss played a front two of Hwang Hee-Chan, who was substituted with an injury, and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.
This meant Pedro Neto and Pablo Sarabia were rested, although they were introduced to the action in the second period.
O’Neil will be expected to use the same system as he did against the Seagulls, utilising a front two instead of two inside forwards and a striker.
With that said, journalist Liam Keen believes Neto and Sarabia starting as two forwards can be the ‘solution’ to Cunha’s injury.
Speaking on the E&S Wolves Podcast, he said: “I think he sets up exactly the same as he sets up tonight with a few personnel changes.
“Semedo will come back in, Dawson will come back in, but then I think you play Lemina in this hybrid role that he’s been playing in. And I think you play Sarabia and Neto as a sort of two up there. That’s the solution I think he’ll go for Newcastle.”
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Nathan Fraser left out
When discussing who to start against Newcastle, Keen left Bellegarde and Nathan Fraser out of the equation completely.
With Bellegarde struggling in front of goal having only netted twice in 17 top-flight appearances, Fraser is yet to make his first start in the league, meaning O’Neil is unlikely to throw up any surprises.
And while he is willing to rotate his team for the FA Cup having made multiple changes for the match against Brighton, in the Premier League he may have to follow Keen’s suggestion by playing Neto and Sarabia as two strikers.
This isn’t the end of the world as the duo are both clever enough to drop into pockets of space and cause Newcastle problems, but the injuries to Cunha and Hwang does demonstrate the need to sign a striker in the summer.