Wolves are back to winning ways in the Premier League after beating Burnley – and it was a brilliant night at the office for Craig Dawson.
Wanderers won 1-0 at Molineux and it was an important result after losing to Fulham and Arsenal last week.
Hwang Hee-chan scored the only goal of the game after some good pressing by Mario Lemina, with Pablo Sarabia and Matheus Cunha working the ball across to him.
The South Korean finished superbly, impressing Amazon pundit Michael Owen.
That was his ninth goal of the season and eighth in the Premier League – six of those league goals have come at Molineux.
Hwang came in clutch for Wolves, and there was also a really good display from Dan Bentley, in for the injured Jose Sa.
But there was also a typically solid display from Dawson at the back…
Craig Dawson was absolutely superb in 1-0 win over Burnley
Wolves needed to be bang at it defensively last night – and that was very much the case.
The three centre-halves were all superb, with Max Kilman actually being named Man of the Match on Amazon.
But as good as Kilman was, Dawson’s statistics from the game made for seriously impressive reading.
The 33-year-old made a whopping nine clearances according to Sofascore, which was by far and away the most of any player on the pitch. Kilman, Toti Gomes and Dara O’Shea were the next highest, all making four each.
Dawson also won 5/6 duels in the game, and he also used the ball extremely well, completing 65/73 passes (89% accuracy).
Dawson might have got himself an assist in the second-half, when he put in a brilliant volleyed cross after being picked out by Pablo Sarabia. It was a superb bit of technical play, that was begging for a Wolves player to tap the ball home.
Dawson immense once again
Wolves fans are running out of superlatives for Dawson these days.
It’s simply remarkable to see the impact he has had on the defence since he came in in January for just over £3 million.
After not having his best outing against Arsenal, he was a colossus last night, with the veteran just providing a calming presence in the backline.
There is never any nonsense with him. He does the basics so well, and he improves those around him which is absolutely huge.
And actually, Dawson is a seriously underrated ball-player. He is not primarily known for being a technical centre-half, but he certainly knows how to break the lines.