Gary O’Neil has given an update on the team news for Wolves’ FA Cup against Brentford as well as Mario Lemina’s situation.
Wolves travel to Brentford on Friday night as they aim to progress to the FA Cup fourth round.
O’Neil’s side has come into the game on a great run of form. Wolves ended 2023 with three consecutive victories including a 4-1 win against Brentford at their ground.
The club have also been playing some of their best football in years with their 3-0 demolishing of Everton to round of the year especially satisfying.
However, the Molineux side now faces a new challenge as they change their focus to the FA Cup.
Wolves crashed out in the third round to Liverpool last season despite some VAR controversy in the 2-2 draw at Anfield.
O’Neil will be looking to hit the ground running in 2024 with progression into the next round of fixtures.
However, the manager will be missing multiple key players for the tie as seen below.
Mario Lemina
Mario Lemina was absent in the 3-0 Everton win over Everton due to his father’s passing. The players wore black armbands in the fixture and lifted his shirt when they scored.
Lemina has easily been one of Wolves’ best players this season and was highly influential in the 4-1 victory over Brentford where he scored the opener.
However, O’Neil has offered his support for the midfielder during this tough time.
He told Wolves: “Mario is still with his family. I don’t want to speak too much for Mario because things can change quickly with how he feels, but when I last spoke to him, he was still dealing with a lot of family stuff, so nothing has changed on that front on my perspective.
“He has my full support, he knows he can call me and message me at any time and I check in on him, but I’m also keen that he has his space and gets his time to do what he needs to do.
“After this game we have a little break before Brighton, so we’re hopeful that, firstly, Mario and his family get themselves into a position where they’re ready to move forward with things, then hopefully Mario will be back for Brighton, because he is a hugely important player to us.”
Players leave for AFCON and Asian Cup
Rayan Ait-Nouri, Boubacar Traore and Hwang Hee-Chan will all be unavailable for the tie.
The trio have been called up for international duty for the AFCON and Asian Cup and have departed now the club.
Ait-Nouri has joined up with Algeria, Traore is with Mali while Hwang has gone to South Korea.
Both players could be out of the Wolves squad until February with the tournaments set to continue for the foreseeable future.
All three players have been important players for Wolves this season. Hwang netted twice against Brentford in the 4-1 win.
Hopefully, the squad will be able to step up in their absences and progress into the FA Cup fourth round.