There is just one day before the new Premier League season kicks off. That means it’s prediction time.
The BBC’s chief football writer, Phil McNulty, has submitted his effort, trying to guess where all 20 teams will finish.
Wolves finished 13th last time around and McNulty thinks they’ll just go one better this term.
He thinks Bruno Lage’s men will end up 12th, sandwiched in-between Leeds and Southampton.
“A reboot of sorts for Wolves after the excellent Nuno Espirito Santo regime ran out of steam. Inevitably, he was replaced by a fellow Portuguese in Bruno Lage,” he wrote.
“The best news of all is the return of their top-class striker Raul Jimenez after his serious head injury. He was missed last season.
“Jose Sa replaces the reliable Rui Patricio in goal, while Portugal winger Francisco Trincao will bring width. Adama Traore can torment any defence on his day.
“Wolves will be a little bit of an unknown quantity under Lage after last season’s struggles, but I certainly don’t expect them to be in any trouble.”
McNulty’s prediction is exactly the same as New York Times’ journalist Rory Smith’s from earlier this week.
It’s interesting that Wolves can lose the manager who oversaw their recent success, appoint one who will try and implement a completely new style of play and be in need of at least two signings but still be tipped not to change their league position all that much.
Maybe that’s an indicator of the financial imbalance in the Premier League or maybe it’s just the fact that the ‘experts’ don’t follow the club all that closely.
We’ll see if the pre-season predictions come true when the campaign kicks off.
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